The Teen Mom star breaks down in tears over her daughter’s “pain,” while Ali’s twin, Aleeah, urges her sister — who has muscular dystrophy — to listen to their parents’ plea, telling Ali, “If you do too much, it can be life-threatening.”
Leah Messer and her family are keeping a “united front” when it comes to Aliannah’s challenges with muscular dystrophy.
On Thursday’s episode of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter, the reality star, her ex-husband Corey Simms, and Ali’s twin, Aleeah, expressed their concerns over Ali’s resistance to using her wheelchair.
Teen Mom’s Leah Messer on ‘Challenge’ Navigating Daughter’s Muscular Dystrophy as She Enters High School
View Story
First, Leah sat down for a conversation with Ali, telling her daughter that, per her doctor, she needs to use her wheelchair when walking long distances, such as a high school football game. This after a fight between the pair in the premiere over that exact situation.
A defiant Ali asserted that she will not use the wheelchair when she doesn’t need it.
“I don’t need to [use the wheelchair.] If I don’t need to, then I’m not going to,” she told her mom. “It’s not as far as you think. It’s really not.”
While Leah said her daughter needs to “think about her future,” Ali again argued that she knows her body best when it comes to her condition, which she was diagnosed with in 2014.
“I’m telling you I don’t need it all the time,” she said to her mom and twin, who then also joined the conversation. “I told you I didn’t need it at the football game and you’re like, ‘Yeah, you do.'”
Leah calmly explained to Ali that she needs to not “over fatigue” herself, while Ali continued to get heated and claimed she’s not overdoing it.
Aleeah then stepped in, agreeing with their mom.
“Your doctor even said you’re not supposed to because it can ruin your muscles,” the teen said. “What you do need to realize is that you do have muscular dystrophy. And if you do too much, it can be life-threatening. You know that you weren’t supposed to live to the age of 16 at first, right? And after our parents have followed the rules and have helped you, you are able to. If you continue to know what’s better for you, you’ll be able to live a healthy normal life.”
Ali again argued that she knows “what’s better” for her own body, to which Aleeah said their parents know what’s best for them. After Ali tried to protest, Aleeah noted a fall her twin took in the kitchen. Ali claimed she slipped on water, but Leah said the problem is she can’t “catch” herself as easily as other people can.
“Here’s the difference between having muscular dystrophy and not. When you hit that water, you immediately wiped out,” Aleeah said, to which Leah added, “Like you can’t catch yourself. You don’t have the reflexes.”
Leah opened up about the situation in a confessional, saying that she and Corey are a “united front” and need to confront Ali about it together.
“Ali has covered up anger for a while, not being able to do certain things, and now she’s in the mindset of ‘I’m going to do this whether you like it or not,'” she told the MTV cameras.
Teen Moms Reveal What Shocks Them the Most About Costars’ Kids as They Turn 16 (Exclusive)
View Story
“Corey and I have conversations all the time about this,” she added. “If me and her dad could have this conversation with her, it just shows that even though we’re in separate homes, we come together. We’re a united front. I just think as her mom, I want to keep her safe.”
While taking Ali and Aleeah to meet their dad, Leah and Corey had a conversation about how they need to confront Ali about her continued resistance to using her wheelchair.
Corey explained how they taught Ali to “use her voice so much” but now they’re going to “have a lot of tornado, little twisters pop up” because Ali is doing what they taught her to do. Leah replied that it’s “so hard” because their daughter “hasn’t accepted that she has muscular dystrophy yet.”
“If I tell her, ‘You won’t be walking behind people’ or ‘People won’t be helping you.’ She’s like, ‘Well, I won’t ask for nothing!’ She’s very strong-willed, and I love that,” she said, to which Corey admitted that he feels “guilty” that they didn’t “implement” the wheelchair more when Ali was younger.
Corey added that they aren’t “looking past” the progress Ali has made, noting how doctors said if she wasn’t walking by a certain age, she probably would never walk.
Leah then got the girls out of the car, and Corey and Ali addressed their twins.
Corey brought up the football game, telling Ali that while he and her mom are “proud” of her progress and how she’s “tackled” her condition, “it takes one second for an accident to happen.” Corey used an example of Ali falling on “uneven ground” and tearing her ACL, saying that an injury like that would be “a lot more difficult to overcome.”
He calmly assured Ali to use her wheelchair as a “tool,” before she immediately chimed in, “when I need it.” However, Corey told Ali that she’ll need to do what her parents believe is best for her.
“If there’s a time that either one of us feel that there’s a time you need it, you’ll have to use it,” Corey said to Ali, who asked, “Well, what if I don’t think I need it?”
“Well, if we think you do, then that’s what it is,” he replied.
While the teen argued that it’s “not fair,” Corey said he and Leah have the final word.
“I understand it’s hard, but if there’s a time that you might not want to [use it] and we think you do, then that’s how it’s gonna be,” he repeated, to which Ali replied with a resigned, “Okay.”
Catelynn Lowell Claims Carly Wanted to See Them More ‘Before Communication Was Cut’ by Adoptive Parents
View Story
In a confessional, Leah broke down in tears over her daughter’s hidden “pain.”
“I can’t imagine how Ali feels. If anything it hurts me that she feels that pain,” she said, getting choked up. “And she’s not getting it out.”
She began to cry as she continued.
“I feel angry for her,” Leah told the cameras. “So I can’t imagine. If I feel angry and I feel pain for her as she’s trying to process this, I wonder how she really feels deep down inside.”
In an interview with TooFab ahead of the new season of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter last month, Leah spoke about the challenges she faces to protect her daughter amid her condition, while also encouraging her to make her own decisions.
“It’s a challenge. Probably one of the hardest things I’ve gone through this far with being a mom and navigating her having muscular dystrophy,” Leah said. “And knowing how to keep her safe, and also allowing her to be independent and get around just like everyone else. … There’s no really no answers. You get to be safe.”
“The reason why we’ve been able to maintain the strength that she has now is through physical therapy. And really keeping everything kind of stabilized with having muscular dystrophy, but she’s also got a voice, and she can use it,” she continued. “And we’re finding balance in all of that because I want her to use her voice and been teaching her, you know, to speak up and use your voice.”
“We’re working through it, and we’ll continue to do that,” Leah added.
Teen Mom: The Next Chapter airs Thursdays on MTV.