‘Little Women: LA’ Star Terra Jole Breaks Down in Tears Over Daughter’s Possible Surgery

Terra Jole is trying to do the best she can for her kids. But the Little Women: LA star broke down for a moment while thinking about her 3-year-old daughter Penny possibly needing to undergo brain surgery.

“Penny just turned three, and having achondroplasia has not been the easiest for her little body,” Jole explained during Wednesday’s all-new episode of the Lifetime show.

She added that the water trapped in the little girl’s skull, called hydrocephalus, related to her kind of dwarfism was possibly affecting her ability to walk, explaining why at three, Penny has still been struggling to move about.

“The doctor called and said like, if she’s not walking in six months, that it’s a very common surgery to have a shunt, which is basically releasing all that water and draining it into your chest cavity,” she told co-star Jasmine Sorge about the toddler’s potential surgery. “It’s been like, all of a sudden, I was like ‘Let’s look up everything to try to get her to walk.’”

As she explained the procedure more, Jole began to get emotional while explaining that she would likely have to have the surgery repeated over the years, and that it wasn’t guaranteed to work.

“As a mom, I don’t want a shunt. Shunts have a 50 percent chance of failing,” she said. “I don’t want to take away something that will give her a better life. I just want her to feel like a ‘normal’ little person like I do. I feel like a normal little person, and I feel selfish for saying that and I wish she didn’t have hydrocephalus.”

Jole admitted that she knew having a daughter with achondroplasia would probably come with health issues, but she didn’t expect the extent to which Penny has been plagued.

“I guess it’s my ignorance that I assumed she would be a replica of me,” Jole said tearfully.

But Sorge was there to support her co-star as a friend and a mom, reassuring her, “It’s OK if she’s at a slower pace. You’re going to do whatever you have to do for your kid. And I mean that from the bottom of my heart.”

We love to see the Lifetime ladies supporting each other!

Little Women: LA (produced by Kinetic Content) airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Lifetime.