I am 26 years old and live in Oceanside, CA. My husband and I are teh proud parents of a beautiful 13 month old girl named Madelyn. Madelyn was born with a condition called Septo Optic Dysplasia (a form of Optic Nerve Hypoplasia). This means that her optic nerves did not develop correctly and they are smaller than what they should be. She has poor vision, but it is getting better everyday. She recently underwent surgery to correct her strabismus (crossed eyes), which they featured on the show. Since the surgery she is doing really well. She finally started crawling shortly after surgery, she's chasing our dog all over the house, and reaching out for things that she didn't seem to see before. She still has a ways to go and we understand that she may need aditional surgeries down the road, but for now this is working out really well. Along with her vision problems, the condition also causes her to have some hormore deficiencies and developmental delays. Her pituitary gland does not produce growth hormone, thyroid, and cortisol levels at what she needs. She takes medications for these daily (one of which comes in the form of a shot) and she is such a trooper through it all. It is hard to watch her go through all that she has been through (and continues to go through), but she really does handle it all so well.

We are expecting our second child on June 5th and we are planning to bank her cord blood in hopes that it will someday be able to help Madelyn. They are currently doing research and treatment in China on children with Madelyn's condition with positive results. My hope is that this treatment will come available in the US soon and Madelyn will be able to use the stem cells from her sisters cord blood.

www.stemcellschina.com