No Arms, No Limits: Texas Mom Shares How She Cares for Her Toddler With Her Feet

Kashmiere Culberson
Credit:WFAA yutube

Kashmiere Culberson, a loving mom, was born with a rare congenital disorder called bilateral phocomelia

One woman is proving that a mother’s instincts have no limitations
Kashmiere Culberson, a woman born without arms due to a rare disorder, is sharing her journey of adapting to motherhood
During an interview with WFAA, the Texas-based mom credited her parents for teaching her independence and hopes to instill the same values in her daughter
One woman is proving that a mother’s instincts have no limitations.

Kashmiere Culberson was born in 1997 with bilateral phocomelia, a rare congenital disorder characterized by the absence or underdevelopment of the proximal limbs.
While some patients are born with shortened limbs, Culberson was born with no arms.
Despite her circumstances, she didn’t let that stop her from pursuing everything she wanted in life, including becoming a mom.

The North Texas-based content creator is a mom to 1-year-old daughter ZaNova. Refusing to let her disorder get in the way of being a mom, Culberson has learned how to change her toddler’s diapers, dress her, fix her hair, put her to bed, feed her and wake her up in the morning using her legs as arms and her feet as hands.

“It just comes naturally,” she told WFAA. “Sometimes I sit and think about how to do something, or I plan most things out. As time progresses, I just kind of figure it out as I go.”

Culberson told the outlet that her parents taught her from a very young age not to let her disorder stop her from achieving her dreams.
She said they instilled that lesson in her for her “whole life” by treating her normally and pushing her to try things.

“I’ve been at that place my whole life,” she said. “Thank you to my parents. They treated me regularly and normal.”

When Culberson was born with no arms, her care team was completely shocked. Rose Kraus, a registered nurse at Methodist Dallas Medical Center, told WFAA that it was a delivery she’ll “never forget.”

“That’s a delivery I’ll never forget,” she said. “It was a shock to all of us. I’d never delivered a baby that didn’t have arms.”

Kraus also remembered the reaction from Culberson’s mother, Tomika Bomar, sharing that it was a “touching moment” to witness.

“Immediately when she saw her, she was elated,” Kraus recalled. “She wanted to hold the baby. It was wonderful… It was never a second thought to her. It was a touching moment”

Las year, the doting mom reunited with nurse Kraus for the birth of her own daughter, ZaNova. Kraus, who was still working at the hospital 28 years later, shared that she was simply assigned a pregnant mother with a rare condition and didn’t know that it was the special baby she delivered nearly three decades prior.

“I was told this patient is special. She has no arms, but she’s quite self-sufficient,” Kraus said, admitting she didn’t originally make the connection to her former patient.
“I actually ran back over to her room and asked, ‘Culberson, were you delivered here? I think I was your mom’s nurse, and I was the person who delivered with you!’ She was FaceTiming with her mother at that moment.”

“People don’t realize how much these patients touch us,” she added. “We always want to know how they’re doing and what their life is like. To know that she was starting her family was the best thing ever.”

As for her little girl, the new mom told the outlet that her daughter is “an angel sent from heaven.” She emotionally shared that she hopes to instill the same gift in her daughter as her parents gave her.

“I want her to be as independent as me,” she said. “Everybody has a hard life. Everybody has different challenges. But you know you’re strong and tough when you can get through it.”

Culled from People Magazine, USA