TLC 'OutDaughtered' Season 9: Will Hazel Busby never learn to ride a bike? 8-year-old's poor vision makes picking up everyday skills a struggle
HOUSTON, TEXAS: The release of TLC 'OutDaughtered's Season 9 is just around the corner, and viewers can expect it to come with new sets of challenges along with the usual fun. In the new episodes, father Adam Busby will be seen teaching his growing quintuplets new skills. However, one among them might pose a struggle for him.
The poor vision of their daughter, Hazel Busby, 8, has been a matter of concern for the Busby parents for a long time. However, in order to help their daughter get past her usual fears, Adam will be seen trying to teach Hazel how to ride a bike. The trailer hints that the duo might face a lot of trouble while giving the new skill a chance. So, only time will tell if Hazel will be able to ride a bike without worrying too much about her obstacles.
Will Hazel be able to learn how to ride a bike?
The trailer for the new season of 'OutDaughtered' shows Adam teaching Hazel how to ride a bike. But Hazel is seen falling from the bicycle in the upcoming seconds, thankfully not hurting herself. Later, Adam, with a significantly low tone, says in a confessional, "Hazel's been the one that's had the most struggle riding a bike." Furthermore, in the trailer, the mother of the quintuplets, Danielle, is heard saying, "I don't want us to automatically think, oh, her vision, every time," to Adam. Indeed, Danielle wants her daughter to learn how to ride a bike despite knowing that she has major vision issues. Hazel's sibling Blayke Busby tries to console her by saying, "Riding a bike is hard for everyone. It was even hard for me. You just have to keep going." It seems that Blayke's words might spark enthusiasm in Hazel, leading her to give the skill another shot. Viewers will only get to know what happens next when the episodes start airing on TLC.
What happened to Hazel's eyes?
Hazel was born with a vision issue called congenital nystagmus, which causes involuntary eye flutters for which she underwent surgery in 2016 at the tender age of one. The surgery helped her to see without needing to turn her neck every time she wanted to look sideways. Danielle said, "From the surgery to the recovery, which was super hard and scary for us, she never really wanted to touch her eyes, which was a big fear of her rubbing and messing anything up or getting an infection. She will always have the nystagmus, but since the surgery, her eyes don't flutter as much, but they still have that shake in them," to PEOPLE.
However, Hazel did face a lot of issues even after having the surgery, and she had to wear an eye patch for a couple of hours each day, as seen on the show. Her doctor suggested the method to "strengthen her left eye." Hazel was also prescribed glasses to help with the issue of farsightedness in her left eye. Currently, the seven-year-old still faces issues seeing long-distance objects, however, her vision has improved a lot since then.
'OutDaughtered' Season 9 will start airing on July 11 at 9 pm ET on TLC.