As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life."
John 9:1-3
When looking at Alexis you see a beautiful, energetic, outgoing social butterfly. Alexis is just finishing her first year in high school and is going to turn 16 on May 24. Alexis loves to swim, draw, talk on the phone to her friends, and help others. Alexis is a TLT (teen leadership trainee) for our local church youth group the Ceres Pathfinders (a Christian scouting group) in Ceres, CA. Alexis loves to take part in all the meetings and events. Alexis is active in FHA HERO at her high school, she even went to the state conference in Fresno, CA. Alexis has a dream of being a fashion designer when she grows up.
Shortly after Alexis was born we noticed that her eyes moved rapidly around all the time. When Alexis was about 6 months old we took her to an Optometrist. The Optometrist told us Alexis was born with Optic Nerve Hypoplasia (ONH) and that she would probably only see fingers in front of her face- she would be near blind. Optic Nerve Hypoplasia refers to the optic nerve being underdeveloped. The rapid eye movement is called Nystagmus. Alexis is legally blind- her sight in her right eye is 20/900; her left is 20/240. In 1994 we were told that there was no cure and nothing we could do would help her see better. But today there is something we can do- there is hope for Alexis.
T.J. is an 11 year old boy that loves science and in very curiuos about the world and everything in it. T.J. is just finishing up fifth grade. T.J. has also been in Pathfinders (our church youth group). T.J. would like to be a scientist when he grows up. T.J. is Alexis's younger brother.
T.J. was born prematurely at 24 1/2 weeks. T.J. only weighed 1 1/2 lbs. and he had to spend 4 months in the NICU in Palo Alto and Modesto. While T.J. was in the hospital his retinas detached. The doctors reattached his retinas, but he is still blind in his right eye. The doctors say they cannot do anything to improve T.J.'s vision. But there is something we can do- there is hope for T.J.!
In China they have been using stem cells from umbilical cords (not embryonic stem cells) to treat many diseases and disorders. Over 100 cases of Optic Nerve Hypoplasia have received stem cell treatments and all of them have seen improvements in eye sight. Only 2 cases of Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP), but both patients did see improvements in their vision. Every child is different: some have had great improvements in eyesight, even enough to receive a driver's license when they had once thought they never could. Some have had smaller increases in sight, but all have shown improvement. To us, any improvement in Alexis's or T.J.'s eye sight would be a blessing!
The treatments in China will cost $26,300 each for Alexis and T.J. and the plane tickets are about $1500 each for Alexis, T.J., and their mom. They will also need to pay for food for the entire stay. We will need to stay in China for 33 days for Alexis and T.J. to receive 6 stem cell treatments each. We are fundraising to reach our goal to be able to take Alexis and T.J. to China for treatments. Please help us with our goal. If you would like to donate, you can do that through our donations page! If anyone has ideas for fundraisers, please send me an email.
Thank you for taking the time to hear our story
"No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us." -1 John 4:12
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