Rick Santorum was forced to cancel all his Sunday political events in order to admit his three-year-old daughter, Isabella to hospital, says CNN. The girl is suffering, according to doctors’ declarations, from a chromosomal condition named Trisomy 18. As a consequence, she was taken to the Philadelphia hospital on Saturday.
The GOP candidate was supposed to attend several political events on Sunday morning, but his spokesperson told reporters that he will cancel them in order to take better care of his daughter. Hogan Gidley, Santorum’s representative, declared that the former Pennsylvania senator and his wife, Karen will not be able to make any public appearances because they have to take their daughter to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Although Santorum was forced to cancel his Florida campaign schedule on Sunday morning, he reassured electors that he plans to return and resume the campaign as soon as possible.
The Florida campaign was supposed to prepare the state’s primary which will take place on Tuesday. Among the many events he had prepared for this Sunday morning, was also an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” and a stop at King Jesus International Ministry in Miami.
Trisomy 18 is a disease that is caused by extra material from chromosome 18. Recent researches have shown that this condition is three times more common in girls than boys. Moreover, few babies who suffer from this condition manage to survive past the first week of life. Those who do survive are bound to experience serious medical and developmental problems.
Rick Santorum has dedicated a page on his campaign website to his daughter whom he describes as the “center of the universe for our family”. He further describes how he and his wife, Karen found out that Bella was sick, five days after her birth. Doctors were preparing them for the death of the new born baby, but they were determined to view the half full glass and focus on her living instead of her dying. Santorum further states in the video that Trisomy 18 is a disease with symptoms that are similar to the Down’s syndrome.
