A concerned parent. The Challenge star Cory Wharton revealed that his 7-month-old daughter, Maya, is undergoing a serious medical procedure.
“The day is finally here. @Mayagrace.wharton has her open heart surgery today. 
All I’m asking is for everybody to keep us in your prayers and keep praying for her and the doctors that will be working on her heart ,” Wharton, 31, captioned a Wednesday, January 4, Instagram photo of him and the little one.
The reality TV personality continued: “We have been anticipating this day for so long … all the anxiety that has built up for months. I just can’t wait for her heart to be fixed. Then we can move on from this chapter. Again, thank you all, and I’ll keep you all updated 
.”
The Michigan native revealed that Maya had been diagnosed with tricuspid atresia — a heart defect that interferes with the organ’s ability to pump blood — while announcing her birth in June 2022.
“Maya Grace Wharton. Don’t really know how to start this off, there’s sooo much I wanna say, so much I’ve felt over the past week. As a parent you’re scared, worried, nervous, angry, sad, mad and you don’t understand why this is happening to your baby,” he wrote at the time.
Wharton shares Maya and daughter, Mila, 2, with girlfriend Taylor Selfridge. He is also father to daughter Ryder, 5, with ex Cheyenne Floyd. The doting dad has been candid about Maya’s health struggles since her birth.
“So, you guys know I like to be honest with you 
and usually you always talk about your good days, but it has been a very long day,” the Teen Mom OG alum wrote via Instagram Stories in October 2022, opening up about a nerve-wracking hospital stay. “We had to bring Maya back to the emergency room. She wasn’t getting enough oxygen and was struggling to breathe.”
He added: “Watching your child struggle for air is such a helpless feeling. Never again, I pray. But now, she is stable. 
.”
Selfridge, 28, for her part, shared how the infant’s medical battle has taken a toll on her in a September 2022 Instagram post.
“I’m OK on a day-to-day [basis], but that being said, in the back of my mind I’m always dealing with intrusive thoughts about her and what could happen. We’re approaching her Glenn procedure which is an open heart surgery and I’ve never been more afraid of anything in my life,” she explained. “Maya is so much better than I expected when I was pregnant and she’s thriving but to watch your baby be so tiny and think of the things she’s about to go through is so scary for me.”
On the day of Maya’s latest procedure, the Oregon native shared some positive thoughts via Instagram Stories.
“We will have this bunny for life,” she wrote alongside several snaps of her youngest daughter.