Although the Teen Mom cast members have all had their fair share of struggles in the past, Leah Messer has been dealt a particularly hard hand. Her difficulty began soon after she gave birth to her twins Ali and Aleeah and began to notice that Ali was developing at a distinctly different rate from Aleeah. After a series of extremely devastating tests that took Leah through the ringer, she came to learn that her daughter Ali had a rare form of muscular dystrophy that would affect her growth and development for the rest of her life.
As Teen Mom 2 continued to follow Leah’s life, she learned more and more about Ali’s condition and her development. Recently, Leah shared updates that Ali had to stay the night in a hospital as part of her testing regimen.
“She’s so over these tests,” Leah captioned this shot of Ali in the back seat on the way to the hospital. “Bless her heart, My baby is soooo tired.”
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When Teen Mom 2 aired, footage revealed the results of the testing.
After Leah learned that Ali was struggling to stay awake in school, doctors realized that her lung capacity and breathing ability was compromised due to her disorder. Leah learned that Ali would have to use a machine that would exercise Ali’s lungs and hopefully improve their capacity over time.
It was easy for fans to see that Leah was having a very difficult time learning this new information about her daughter’s condition.
“The hardest part is her physically deteriorating and knowing these things are happening to her,” Leah explained on the show. “You don’t know what to expect or when to expect what’s going to happen, but you know something is going to happen.” She revealed that her daughter is continuing to “get weaker” and that she will “probably” need home care at some point.
Now, fans can have even more insight into Ali’s condition, as revealed by a Muscular Dystrophy specialist who spoke with Radar Online. It should be noted that the specialist, Jill Frauheim, MS, CGC, a Genetic Counselor at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, has not treated Ali herself.
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“The weakness starts in areas closest to the shoulders, upper arms, hips and thighs,” Frauenheim revealed. “Those that have muscular weakness, even the severity of that can vary. Some kids with this, they learn to walk and remain walking over the age of 20. Others are more severe and start needing additional help between 10 and 20.”
Frauenheim revealed that Ali may face heart issues down the road as well. “Heart problems and muscle weakness are the two major symptoms,” she revealed.
