WAYNESBORO, Pa. - Watching five-year-old Peyton Rauth giggle as her father Jason reads to her in a happy, animated voice, it is easy to see the love shared between the two.
Life at the Rauth residence is much like life at any household: family dinners, Peyton excited for the last day of preschool and many toys. However, devotion to fatherhood is a daily demonstration by Jason, who left his job to become a stay-at-home dad to care for Peyton who was born blind with chronic medical conditions.
Peyton was born March 16, 2008, 11 weeks premature. She weighed a little more than two pounds and had to remain in the neonatal intensive care unit of Johns Hopkins Hospital for the first four months of her life.
Jason Rauth reads to his five-year-old daughter Peyton, one of Peyton’s favorite activities. Jason became a stay-at-home dad after Peyton was born blind and with a rare disorder called septo-optic dysplasia.
Peyton was two months old when doctors discovered she born with septo-optic dysplasia, a rare disorder resulting in multiple medical and developmental challenges and blindness.
Realizing the specialized care Peyton would need, Jason quit his job as a general manager and golf professional to become a stay-at-home father while wife Rochelle remained a nursing director at Berkeley Medical Center in Martinsburg.
"Rochelle had more earning potential than I had in my job, so we made that decision together. Now at this point I can't imagine not being a stay-at-home dad," Jason said.
"He is the better-suited person to be home with her, honestly. I could do it if I had to, but I'm a different support to her than he is," Rochelle added.
After bringing Peyton home from the hospital, Jason said it was a steep learning curve to quickly become knowledgeable and proficient in all of the daily medical care Peyton needed, such as feeding her through a PEG tube in her stomach, mixing and administration of medications, monitoring for sleep apnea and administering oxygen.
"I was a little apprehensive at first, but once you get into a routine it just becomes a part of your daily life. Now she gets some medications a couple different times throughout the day, but it's definitely gotten better," Jason said.
In addition to becoming adept at Peyton's medical needs, Jason also had to master daunting tasks every father faces - like styling Peyton's hair and matching her clothing.
"He can do her hair better than me," Rochelle said with a laugh. "He really takes the lead on getting her dressed, putting her shoes on and doing her hair, not only for school but other times too, like when we're going out."
As Peyton has grown, Jason's duties have evolved. While medical concerns dominated the first few years of Peyton's life, Jason now primarily focuses on transporting Peyton to her multiple therapist appointments and working to improve skills with her at home.
When Peyton attended adaptive preschool for the first time at age three, Jason helped her become accustomed to the environment and interaction with other children.
"I was apprehensive about her adapting to the preschool setting. We were fortunate enough that they would let me stay until she got adjusted," Jason said.
Rochelle said she was terrified for Peyton to begin school, but with Jason's help she was able to overcome her fear.
"I'm the worrier, I'm the mom. As the father, for me, he always makes it so it's okay for me and her. If he's alright with it and he knows that she's going to be comfortable, then I'm alright with it because he knows her so well," Rochelle said, adding that Peyton will start kindergarten in the fall.
Knowing firsthand the challenges families with special needs children face, being a father to Peyton inspired Jason to establish the PAC Foundation as a resource for families with visually-impaired children.
"The foundation is more about providing life-enriching experiences rather than research or things like that. We want the kids to live as normal a life as they can. That's our goal," Jason said.
Through the foundation, Jason and Rochelle have provided adaptive playground equipment to a Franklin County elementary school, iPads for a visually impaired classroom, as well as individualized needs of families in the four-state area.
"They can use (the iPads) to magnify text, and there's an app out there that will read the textbooks to the children so they can stay up (with other students). Instead of having to buy a Braille textbook and having the child struggle reading that, the app will read the textbooks. I believe the app has 20,000 textbooks, so it just helps them keep pace," Jason said.
Although being a father has presented some challenges, Jason said he has never viewed leaving his job and becoming a stay-at-home dad as a sacrifice and is grateful to spend every day with Peyton to watch her grow and learn.
"She learns something new every day, and she does something new every day. She's starting to learn how to type braille, so we do a little bit of that some afternoons. She likes books, she likes to be read to. She likes to tell you what's in the book and to touch and feel the books," Jason said.
"It's easy to get frustrated, especially with a child with special needs, because she can't always voice what she wants and what she needs in that moment. But (being a father) just taught me to take a break, work through our channels with her, and we always get to the answer. It may take a little longer, but we always get to the answer," Jason said.