“My Heart Is Shattered”: Southern Charm’s Jennifer Snowden Begs for Prayers as 8-Year-Old Son Hospitalized

Southern Charm alum Jennifer Snowden is asking for prayers for her 8-year-old son, Ascher.

Snowden, 43, shared a photo via her Instagram Story of Ascher laying in a hospital bed on Thursday, June 12, writing, “Monitoring his brain activity. Please pray that he wakes up soon. Thank y’all. I didn’t know where else to turn but to all of you again for prayers & on my knees praying to God.”

Although Snowden didn’t share further details, her son was born with encephalocele, a rare neural tube defect where brain tissue and membranes protrude through the skull, according to the CDC. Snowden discovered the condition during a 4D ultrasound while 15 weeks pregnant, she told The Doctors in 2017. She was told that if her baby survived, he would most likely need 24-hour medical care and that walking, speaking and bowel control would be challenging.

According to The Doctors, 85 percent of expectant mothers whose babies are diagnosed with encephalocele terminate their pregnancies.

“I would talk to my baby [in the womb] every night and tell him, ‘This doesn’t have to be your story. Your story can be rewritten,’” she recalled on the medical show.

Ascher underwent brain surgery immediately after his birth in 2016 and again in 2021. Since then, he has thrived, according to Snowden’s social media posts.

“Happy 8th Birthday to my angel on Earth, Ascher! Mommy is so proud of the young man you’re growing into: you have the kindest empathetic heart, your vocabulary is better than mine, your creativity & curiosity amazes me daily & every day I thank the Lord He chose me to be your mama. I love you forever and ever and back again my sweet boy & tiny best friend (even though you’ll be as tall as me in like a week),” she wrote on his birthday in September 2024.

Snowden also shared more of Ascher’s story on the “Are You For Real?” podcast in 2022, saying, “I truly believe that what you manifest in yourself and what you pray for and what you believe in, truly can change the course of your health.”

Snowden was on Bravo’s Southern Charm for three seasons before leaving the show when Ascher was born. She married partner Lee James in a Bahamas ceremony in January 2022 and now runs a downtown Charleston boutique named after her son, James Ascher.