HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Scott Baio and his wife, Renee Sloan, are recalling the scare they received shortly after their daughter Bailey was born in November.
One day after bringing their newborn baby home from the hospital, the couple received a call from their pediatrician, telling them their daughter had tested positive for a potentially fatal disorder called glutaric acidemia type 1.
“It was the worst time in my life,” Baio shares with Celebrity Baby Blog. “I don’t know how to explain that to you. I don’t, other than, every breath that you take, every thought that you have, every moment that you’re conscious, it’s all you’re thinking about. No matter what the conversation is about, what movie you’re watching, what you’re eating…This disease is the constant thought in your brain. It never leaves you. Ever. You can’t breathe.”
“Every time [Scott] would see a child, see a baby, he would just break down,” added Sloan. “He’s a first-time father. He didn’t grow up with younger siblings. And it would just break him down…break us down. It was so tough to go through the holidays, our wedding…all the while knowing, our kid may die.”
After watching their daughter endure a series of painful and complicated tests, the couple finally received the news that they were hoping for — Bailey didn’t have GA-1 and was given a clean bill of health at 10 weeks of age.
“We jumped through the ceiling, even though we were just so physically and mentally and emotionally exhausted by that point,” recalled the 47-year-old actor. “We called everybody we knew.”
“It was a horrible thing, but honestly, in a way I’m glad I went through it,” he added. “Because this sort of thing puts everything else in perspective. Throughout the course of normal life, you forget what’s important, and you just seem to lose track of things. I still am guilty of doing that. But every time I think about it, when I think about [Bailey] possibly being not well, I think ‘Screw everything else.’ Every night before I go to bed I thank God, I thank God almost every half-hour that she’s okay.”
