Two Tracy Area High School graduates are experiencing the highs and lows of becoming new parents.
Brad and Ashley (Daniels) Schmidt became parents for the first time on Oct. 26, 2021, welcoming their new son, Rogan, into their world as they started their family. But it wasn’t too long after the big day that their lives changed once again.
At Rogan’s 20-week anatomy scan, there were “abnormal findings” and the couple was referred to MFM (maternal fetal medicine) in Sioux Falls, SD. They first completed a blood test to rule out any of the more common genetic conditions, which came back with no findings.
MFM then offered to do an amniocentesis, but they declined because of the risk of harming the baby. Instead, they chose to complete testing to determine whether they were carriers of 200-plus other rare conditions. After a few weeks, they received a call that Brad was a carrier of something known as Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome.