An ophthalmologist told me recently that scientific advancements might repair damaged optic nerves. “Hopefully,” he said, “you and I will live to see the day.”
That was the first time, since my vision loss April 17, 2006, I had heard of such possibilities. Optic nerve damage is irreversible, I’d been told.
Mine is a complication of heart surgery — my second to correct birth defects, and their effects. My surgeon blames the 10 minutes, in a 10-hour operation, he needed to repair my aortic aneurism.
Vision experts say even momentary loss of blood flow to optic nerves results in blindness. Perhaps miraculously, I have a bit of residual vision in my left eye, enough to permit me to read, with magnification, and to help me figure out my surroundings.
Since seventh grade, I’ve been nearsighted; and for several decades, I’d been legally blind, though prescription glasses corrected by astigmatism to 20/20.
Perhaps being blind, without my glasses, all those years helped me to accept the permanent state; or perhaps it was because the blindness seemed minor, compared to other difficulties my recovery presented; or perhaps it was my abiding faith in God’s will. Regardless, gratefully, I embraced the challenge with remarkable grace.
Now I read online in the 2011 “Research Story” of Dr. Dong Feng Chen of the Schepens Eye Research Institute, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School: “we hope that functional restoration of sight after optic nerve injury may become possible in the near future, first in mice and then in people.”
That is exciting news, but the U.S. has some catching up to do with China. In the eastern city of Hangzhou, as reported March 18, 2008 by National Public Radio, 600 foreigners and 2,300 Chinese already had received cord blood stem cell therapy at Beike Biotechnology, run by 40-something Dr. Sean Hu. Seventy percent, Hu claims, improved.
A researcher in Los Angeles calls Hu’s therapies “extreme nonsense,” NPR reports, but a doctor at University of Florida“concluded that (Hu’s) stem-cell therapy was the only clinical explanation for (his six-year-old patient’s) improvement.” The girl went from no light perception to recognizing large letters.
According to the current National Institutes of Health Plan for Eye and Vision Research section on Low Vision and Blindness Rehabilitation, “Visual impairment is included among the 10 most prevalent causes of disability in the United States.”
Besides optic neuropathies, other causes for low vision and blindness considered in the NIH report are retinal, corneal and lens diseases, cataracts, glaucoma, strabismis, amblyoopia, myopia, and other disorders of the ocular muscles.
Dr. Hu’s therapies cost hopeful patients tens of thousands of dollars, and seem to apply to infants and children. Experts do not understand how his therapy works, and they have no knowledge of long-term effects or risks.
In this new biomedical race for breakthrough cures, I hope researchers in our country will refine Hu’s technique, to understand the full treatment dynamic, and that they will follow Hu’s lead to utilize cord blood or adult stem cells, rather than those from embryos.
True hope, for any stem cell cure, lies in ethical harvesting.
Vision loss changes life, but life is about change. I am thankful that I traveled and participated fully in community when I could, and enjoyed beauty when I saw it clearly. I have all those experiences to draw upon.
Now, in a narrow, grey-veiled, hazy montage, where people and obstacles materialize suddenly, like specters — fuzzy-figured and featureless — I ambulate in the dim glow of a nightlight.
But I still love life, and I don’t fear death: Great gifts from God.
Nancy E. Thoerig
Mount Savage
Letters
Will U.S. refine Chinese cure for blindness?
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Traffic Group not for public
Let’s all cry crocodile tears for the Cumberland City Traffic Group. Let us all boo hoo for the potential demise of an open public meeting that is, in point of fact, not open to the public to begin with.
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Vietnam veterans bearing burden of proof
Vietnam veterans who never had boots-on-ground in Vietnam, who are sick from presumptive exposure to agent orange dioxin poisoning, are tied up in paperwork.
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There are more important things to worry about than this
This letter is a response to the story, “With pastor, McKay lays into same-sex marriage” on Feb. 10 (Page 1A).
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Just when did God change his mind about marriage?
I just saw Rev. Al Sharpton’s commercial for same-sex marriage where he claims to be a Baptist and would never impose his religious opinions on others.
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Just because they listen doesn’t mean they hear you
What makes a good elected official? At the end of every public meeting County Commissioner Mike McKay tells his constituents, “thanks for participating in your government.”
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Why would you get married?
Today, after reading many news feeds across America, I have become even more saddened at the state of our beloved country than ever before.
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Governor wants our money for something that won’t help us
Gov. Martin O’Malley is like a spoiled little boy who spends his allowance on candy and runs back to his parents demanding more money.
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Dennett Road is the best place for special needs children
I have three children in my home who attend Dennett Road Elementary School. One is a son in fourth grade who has done amazing there and received a wonderful education.
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Even though he’s gone, we still know who’s to blame for this
Every time I drive by the gas station and see the all-time-high prices, I want to find George Bush and give him a piece of my mind!
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These are just shell games
Dear Mr. Franchot:
It isn’t bad enough that the “Free State” of Maryland is ranked “having the ninth-worst tax climate in the nation, primarily because of income, unemployment insurance and property tax rates, No. 46 for individual income tax rates, No. 45 for its unemployment insurance tax rates and No. 40 for property tax rates (“Ninth-worst: Maryland tax climate hurts climate for business,” editorial, Jan. 29 Times-News). - More Letters Headlines
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Traffic Group not for public
