A Cedar Park family said they were told by the Social Security Administration that they made too much money, and there were only a few options to get extra help for their daughter, who suffers from Rett Syndrone: They either needed to make less, have another child or get divorced.
"It's not a common disease," Jacquelyn Cline, Sophia Cline's mother, said. "It's a rare, non-inherited genetic disorder."
"They often cannot speak, cannot walk, cannot do the normal means of what you and I can do on a daily basis," Cody Cline, Sophia's father, said.
It's hard for them to watch their child struggle. She is unable to walk without the assistance of a gate trainer, and she can't eat any solid foods.
One of her favorite things to do is rock in a rocking chair.
"Our neighbors, our family, our friends can only assume what it is like," Cody said.
She also cannot talk, but uses a special computer program that tracks the movement of her eyes to communicate with her family. She is able to tell them what she needs from pre-programed selections, answer yes or no questions and even tell a joke.
The disease requires thousands of dollars of therapies and medical care. The Clines said they have to plan to spend their full out of pocket expenses, and sometimes even more.
Even if they do that, they still don't cover all of the necessary therapies that she needs.
"But yet, when asking for assistance through the United States government, they flat out tell you and give you the options of, 'Well your wife can either divorce you and you would qualify, or you can have another baby and you would qualify,'" Cody said. "Both are not legitimate options."
"It's just, we need the extra help to get the things that she needs that private insurance doesn't cover," Jacquelyn said.
Until the rules change, they said they're going to have to continue with only partial therapy. But they are working with lawmakers in an attempt to change them.
For more information on Sophia, you can click here.