TwitterRandy Rogers is speaking out for the first time since his six-day-old daughter, Rumer Rain Rogers, tragically passed away earlier this month.
"The moment was just full of joy," the country singer said of Rumer's June 3rd arrival in an interview with People. "We thought we had a healthy baby. We shared the news with friends and even posted a picture on social media."
But shortly after his wife Chelsea Rogers gave birth, Rumer "wouldn't eat and she wouldn't wake up," he explained.
"She was very lethargic, she never opened her eyes. We kept getting assurances from the doctors and nurses—a lot of babies think they're still in mommy's belly and they don't want to wake up for a day or eat—but then Rumer went to the NICU about eight hours after her birth."
Randy shared that doctors "started running test after test and nothing was wrong with her. It was a six-day process. It was heart-wrenching and grueling not knowing what was wrong. She was put on a feeding tube pretty early on because she couldn't eat or swallow, then she decided to stop breathing and we had her put on a vent."
Doctors eventually diagnosed the newborn with nonketotic hyperglycinemia, a rare genetic disorder that currently has no cure.
"Chelsea and I always thought that we were two peas in a pod. Turns out literally we are, genetically; we have the same exact recessed gene. The odds are astronomical," Randy explained.
"I'm just so happy that there are men and women so smart and passionate to be able to identify these things. Now because my daughter died and we now know we carry this gene, no one else in our family will have to have that happen to them and science is to thank for that."