Teen Mom star Cory Wharton has confirmed his youngest child Maya will have more open-heart surgeries — as he opened up about the “intense” health battle she endured in the first year of her life.
Cory, 32, and his girlfriend Taylor Selfridge have faced a brutal battle over the past year as they watched their daughter undergo multiple hospital stays and procedures after she was diagnosed with tricuspid atresia, a congenital heart condition.
Little Maya underwent open-heart surgery earlier this year, and in an exclusive conversation with DailyMail.com, Cory revealed it was “the hardest thing we’ve ever had to do in our lives.”
Cory and Taylor, 29, along with their three-year-old daughter Mila and his six-year-old daughter Ryder, are now trying to “enjoy every moment” together and confirmed that Maya is “doing great” after her heart surgery.
“Life is great, all my girls are healthy and I’m just kind of pushing my way through the year,” Cory told DailyMail.com during a candid conversation.
Life Update: Teen Mom star Cory Wharton has confirmed his daughter Maya will need more open heart surgery in the future
Daddy’s girl: Little Maya was diagnosed with tricuspid atresia, a congenital heart condition, at birth in June 2022
Family man: Cory pictured with his girlfriend Taylor Selfridge and his three daughters: Ryder, six, Mila, three, and one-year-old Maya
Getting Along: Cory with ex Cheyenne Floyd and their daughter Ryder on Teen Mom: The Next Chapter
“That was the hardest thing we’ve ever had to do in our lives, watching Maya have open heart surgery, it was just really intense. It’s so rough.
“Because I’m at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles, the ICU unit is like… I’d talk to a doctor and they’d look at me and say, ‘Hey, can you hold that for a second,’ and this blue light would come on in the room next to us and that basically means like a child’s heart is stopping so they have to go in and resuscitate them, and it’s just such a stressful environment.
“No one wants to be there, no one wants to see their child in bed. Neither of us parents want to be there, it was just awful,” Cory added.
“It cost everyone a lot, Mila went to Seattle with grandparents, I haven’t seen Ryder for about two weeks, so it cost everyone a lot, all the kids. I think everyone can agree that we’re so glad we’re past that experience, and we have another open heart surgery that she needs in about two to three years, and then there shouldn’t be any other surgeries.”
Cory continued, “We’re just happy to turn that chapter and move on, and she’s doing great. She checks all the doctor’s appointments, she passes all the little tests, and we’re just so happy to turn that page and start a new chapter.”
Despite struggling so much as a family, Cory explained that Maya’s health issues have “100 percent” made his and Taylor’s relationship even stronger.
“Nobody else knows what we went through, we get to share that experience together – even though we may not like it.” And it made me love her even more and I think she could say the same for me. We just all put everything aside and made Maya come first,” said the MTV star.
On a recent episode of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter, fans of the show saw Taylor collapse during a conversation with Cory as they talked about Maya having “trouble breathing” prior to her surgery.
Father and daughter: Cory confirmed that Maya is ‘doing great’ and they are now ready to ‘start a new chapter’
Former couple: Cory and Cheyenne pictured together before their split
Group photo: Cory and Taylor, photographed in June, “live in the moment” with their adorable family
Brave girl: Cory often kept his fans updated by sharing pictures of Maya on social media
When asked if it was hard to watch those scenes months later, Cory replied, “It’s fine.” It’s more like, Taylor gets a little upset that there’s no more to tell of the story. It moves really fast on the show, it’s not really about how we feel, it’s just a conversation here and there.”
Cory and Taylor have also had the support of his ex Cheyenne Floyd, with whom he shares his oldest daughter, Ryder. Cheyenne, 30, is now married to Zach Davis and the couple have two-year-old son Ace.
Speaking of their co-parenting relationship, Cory said, “Cheyenne keeps it really easy for me and we’re very straight to the point. Like, we just shake it easy or get very straight to the point.
“And I think my biggest thing is, I just always want to show her respect.” The main thing with us is I show you respect, you show me respect, and we never cross that line, and things are easy and we just keep flowing.
“I’m glad she’s married and happy with her life. And I have my own family and do my thing so it’s perfect because we just get together, we both want the best for Ry, we just get it done,” he added.
Regarding their on-screen relationship on Teen Mom, Cory explained, “I would say the most important thing about Teen Mom is that it’s through Cheyenne’s voice. And what I mean by that is she’ll always have the last word… you know, the show is called Teen Mom, not Teen Dad!’
“So we’re kind of side characters on the show, so we just do our thing and have fun with it,” he continued, before admitting that he’d “love” to have his own spin-off show.
Emotional Scenes: Cory comforted his girlfriend in a recent episode of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter
Strong couple: The former Real World star said Maya’s health struggles made him love Taylor “even more.”
Beautiful moment: the father of three in the photo with his oldest daughter in June 2023
Co-parenting: Cory said he and his ex Cheyenne just want the best for their daughter Ryder
“I’d really like to see a show about what’s going on and our co-parenting because I think we could be really entertaining,” he teased.
Meanwhile, Cory prepares for his appearance on MTV’s reality competition show The Challenge, making the most of every day with his girls.
‘Health is wealth, because you don’t know what you have until you lose it. But honestly, we just try to enjoy every moment and all my daughters are healthy.
“We’re so happy where we are and it’s like, ‘Let’s just enjoy it,’ because it can all be taken away from us with the snap of a finger, so let’s just live in the moment.”