Santorum Returns to Campaign Trail Following Daughter's Hospitalization
Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum was noticeably absent from the GOP campaign stage in Florida this weekend as family matters took him from the spotlight.
His 3-year-old daughter Isabella was in the hospital battling pneumonia, but Santorum says she’s “miraculously on the mend” as he moves on to Missouri and Minnesota this week.
Isabella suffers from a genetic disorder called trisomy 18, or Edwards syndrome. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, patients with the condition have a third copy of material from chromosome 18 which interferes with development of the heart, brain, and other essential internal organs.
The condition occurs in about 1 in 5,000 newborns, and 80 percent of patients are female.
The NCIB says half of infants born with Edwards syndrome don’t make it past their first week of life, but some patients battle serious medical problems into their teenage years.
Santorum posted a video on his campaign blog introducing Isabella, available at: http://www.ricksantorum.com/blog/2011/10/meet-our-daughter-bella.