Umbilical Brothers

Ryleas was diagnosed with Optic Nerve Hypoplasia, an abnormal deficiency of cells: in her case ONH was extremely severe, resulting in her complete loss of vision. Such a condition is normally linked with hormonal imbalances in the brain which can affect a child's growth, although in Rylea s case Optic Nerve Hypoplasia does not seem to have affected her in being a very lively and happy child. Sight apart, in all other respects Rylea is healthy and energetic. Through stem cell treatment her family hoped to restore the cell count in the nerves and to see some response to visual stimulus, specifically pupil dilation or retraction. Rylea s treatment (umbilical cord stem cell injections with visual rehabilitation therapy) began on July 3rd, 2007 in a chinese hospital named Beike. Before the treatment In affecting her optic nerves, Rylea's illness has entirely deprived her of light perception and vision: in a word, she was blind. In early tests of shape recognition (slotting shapes through appropriate holes), Rylea relied on touch and memory, and did not attempt to identify shapes through sight.. After the treatment Rylea showed important signs of light sensitivity less than two weeks after the treatments began. In a darkened room Rylea responded to a flashlight when shone in her eyes. Rylea's mother initially hoped to be seeing improvement over a period of up to six months: in this respect the treatment far exceeded her expectations. The following is an excerpt from Rylea's blog (www.nomoredarkness.com). It covers her progress shortly after her return to America. - 8 August 2007 We met Dr. Brothers (Rylea's eye doctor) this morning. It was exciting for him to see her and respond to the light as it had been for us. He examined her eyes and Rylea showed him how she could tell which eye he was shining the light into. Then he turned the lights down low and took her in front of the wall where the eye chart shines. He asked her if she could