'Butterfly baby' survives astounding illness with help from a simple pair of socks

'I'll never forget the gasps when she was born...'

Little Makenzie Camdus was born with a serious skin condition that left her flesh as fragile as a butterfly's wings.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Her mother, Liz Cadmus, told TODAY Parents: "I'll never forget the gasps when she was born - the inhale of everyone's breath when they saw that she was missing her skin.

"You could see blood vessels. You could see down to the bone."

Liz and her husband Nicholas learned their daughter had a rare skin condition called epidermolysis bullosa.

Nicholas explained: "She is  missing both keratin and collagen, and essentially those are like the fibrous glue that holds the layers of skin together.

"Learning to take care of Makenzie was a journey - there is no cure for EB, so it's basically wound care. Nurses had to teach us how to take care of her."

Makenzie spent the first few months of her life confined to the hospital, where her blistered, torn skin grew under careful observation and care.

Once home, her bandages often fell off, further damaging her flesh from her surroundings and the excessive bandage changes.

Finally, a nurse suggested holding the bandages down with socks.

Nicholas said: "I went to Walmart and bought lots of socks - I figured I'd keep trying different types until I found something that worked for Makenzie. We found socks that worked, and as soon as she was able to switch to twice daily bandage changes instead of bandage changes every few hours, she started to heal."

Inspired by his daughter's condition and the help simple socks provided, Nicholas wrote a poem called "Rocking the Socks."

Soon after writing it,he started a Facebook page called "Rock The Socks."

On the social media site, he describes the disease his daughter struggles with and posts updates of her condition.

Little Makenzie celebrated her first birthday in February and thousands celebrated with the Cadmus family.

Though Makenzie continues to thrive, her family still struggles with her care and health. They created a GoFundMe account to help pay their daughter's numerous medical bills and care.

Please pray Makenzie's blisters heal, her flesh is made whole and new and her family can raise her in good health.

---

'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'

Copyright 2021 - Distributed by Catholic Online