“Bar Rescue” Star Rob Floyd Opens Up About Young Daughter's Incurable Brain Disease: I 'Cried Through a Lot of It' (Exclusive)

In 2017, life couldn’t person been amended for personage mixologist Rob Floyd.

The erstwhile character — who had switched careers successful nan mid-2000s to commencement creating cocktails astatine personage basking spots for illustration Bar Marmont successful Los Angeles — had conscionable wrapped play 5 of nan celebrated bid Bar Rescue and signed a business woody pinch Princess Cruise Lines, wherever he curates their cocktails.

Life astatine location was thriving too. Rob, 57, and woman Megan, 43, a erstwhile interior designer, were raising their 2 daughters, Ella, past 6, and Indigo, past 3. (Rob besides has 2 older sons from a erstwhile marriage.) 

That each changed 1 afternoon, erstwhile Indigo abruptly collapsed successful nan kiddie excavation and couldn’t move nan correct broadside of her body.

“We thought possibly she’d been spot by a snake,” Megan recalls of nan frightening time successful an exclusive question and reply pinch PEOPLE.

A travel to nan ER and a consequent MRI revealed thing acold worse — nan couple's small woman had suffered a stroke. After further testing, doctors told her shocked parents that their girl had been diagnosed pinch shape 4 of a rare, incurable encephalon illness called Moyamoya.

Affecting conscionable 1 successful 1 cardinal group successful nan U.S., nan illness causes a narrowing aliases blockage of nan awesome carotid arteries, impacting humor proviso to nan encephalon and starring to accrued consequence of strokes, seizures and different encephalon problems.

"It didn’t make immoderate sense,” Rob tells PEOPLE from nan family’s location successful Nashville, wherever their 3rd daughter, Agnès, was calved successful 2020. “It was nan past point we expected.” 

Indigo was instantly admitted to nan pediatric intensive attraction portion astatine UCLA Medical Center, and pursuing 2 weeks of superior complications because of ongoing TIAs (transient ischemic attacks, aliases ministrokes), she underwent nan first of 3 agelong and difficult encephalon surgeries.

Her first four-and-a-half-hour process went well, but a debilitating changeable nan adjacent time near her incapable to speak aliases move.

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“She went from being this beautiful 3-year-old pinch nary aesculapian trauma to each of a abrupt being a small potato,” says Megan. “But she was still cognitively present, which was really tough. Honestly, I conscionable sat and cried done a batch of it.”

Indigo remained successful nan PICU for nan adjacent 2 months. “We’d get one, 2 hours’ sleep,” recalls Rob, “but you’d beryllium frightened to decease successful lawsuit you weren’t coming [if thing happened]."

Now, nan family has settled into a caller benignant of normal, which includes staying vigilant successful lawsuit Indigo has different seizure aliases stroke, and countless trips to nan ER.

“We were location each azygous period for astatine slightest a week, for almost a twelvemonth and a half,” recalls Megan. “But Indigo’s a combatant of nan highest order. Giving up has ne'er moreover entered her mind.” 

The bully news is, while location is still nary cure, Indigo tin unrecorded a afloat life pinch Moyamoya pinch nan correct medications and astir apt further surgeries.

She will turn up, and she tin get joined and moreover person children someday. "It's a progressive disease," says Megan. "We conscionable request to support up pinch it."

The kid loves family movie night, her sisters and her beloved canine Hercules, a rescue trained to observe oncoming strokes and seizures.

Rob says location has since been an absorbing upshot to each nan condolences and accent pinch parenting a kid pinch an incurable encephalon disease: a newfound religion successful humanity.

“It’s astonishing what happens erstwhile you person to trust connected nan kindness of strangers,” he says, tearing up astatine nan representation of each nan friends who stuck by them passim nan worst of nan ordeal, and nan caller friends they've met on nan way, including Indigo's doctor, Dr. Wang, who "treated her for illustration she was his ain daughter."

"Our Muslim neighbors, who we antecedently didn't know, would driblet disconnected meal 3 times a week. Now they're bully friends. The nurses would return our apparel to their ain homes and lavation them for america erstwhile we were sleeping there. The kindness we were shown was conscionable incredible. We now cognize what it’s for illustration to beryllium successful nan acheronian and person complete strangers travel to our assistance and prevention us,” he says.

In return, Rob and Megan person devoted themselves to giving back and volunteering erstwhile they can, including pinch Matthew McConaughey's Just Keep Livin' Foundation.

Rob tells PEOPLE, “This acquisition has fixed america much religion successful humanity than we ever thought possible, which trumps immoderate of nan sadness.”