Cory Wharton and Taylor Selfridge are opening up about their horrific experience as they watched their daughter, Maya, fight for her life in the ICU earlier this year. They sat down for an exclusive interview with E! News, which was published on Saturday (October 7), to relive what was the ‘lowest point’ of their lives.
Selfridge was 23 weeks pregnant when Maya was diagnosed with a congenital heart condition – tricuspid atresia – that made it difficult for blood to flow to her lungs for oxygen. Maya was born in June 2022, but the couple left the hospital empty-handed while she received treatment and recovered in a NICU room.
She spent 15 days in that NICU room while she recovered from open-heart surgery and underwent three cath labs – where they measured her blood vessels and blood pressure, and took images of her heart. Cory and Taylor eventually got to take Maya home, but they understood that the worst was yet to come.
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In their interview, Cory Wharton and Taylor Selfridge explain how you ‘just want to be on a steady path to get out of the hospital’ and ‘just want to see progress’ without taking any steps back when you undergo surgery. Unfortunately, that’s not how things went in January when Maya underwent open-heart surgery.
During her recovery, doctors had to take Maya back to the operating room when her oxygen levels fell to the 70s. They couldn’t find anything wrong, but it was clear her body wasn’t responding well. She spent an extra three days on a ventilator, but her loving parents never gave up hope and remained by her side.
“I knew that little girl would be fine. Listen, we are some fighters. We are warriors. And she did it,” Cory said of his little girl’s battle. “I would stay up and pray that I would much rather be in that bed than her. Like, I’ll do anything. You see your kid scared, you’re like, I would trade places with you in a heartbeat.”
The couple thanked their friends and family for all the love and support they received. They shouted out Taylor’s parents for taking care of their other daughter, Cory’s mother for flying from Michigan to keep the family sane, and Cory’s ex, Cheyenne Floyd, for watching his eldest daughter (who they share together).
Cory Wharton and Taylor Selfridge Looking Forward to the Future
Cory Wharton and Taylor Selfridge aren’t here to sugarcoat anything – they understand the amount of trauma they experienced over the past two years and are well aware that they’re still feeling the effects of that trauma to this day. That’s why the couple has decided to undergo therapy – which is really helping.
“You really have to just be open with your feelings and talk to people, get an outside perspective. And I think time heals all wounds,” Cory said of their therapy sessions – adding that watching Maya ‘progress through checkups’ with a ‘smile’ on her face helps bring ‘a sense of peace’ to their unfortunate situation.
With that said, Cory and Taylor are viewing their horrific experience as something that won’t kill them – but only make them stronger. Looking forward to the future, the couple are looking to ‘rediscover some fun’ in their relationship and ‘rediscover that spark’ that brought them together nearly six years ago.
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As far as their plans for the future, Cory Wharton says he would love to have another child someday – a boy this time. He also wants to grow old with Selfridge – which means getting married (something that’s definitely on their radar). Adding to the excitement, Cory would love to have a reality show for his family.
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