Diagnosis

Macie was diagnosed with Optic Nerve Hypoplasia shortly after being born.

Condition Prior to Treatment

Macie grew up legally blind never realizing the fully extent of her visual impairment. Macie told us “my whole life I'd never been told that I was blind. Just that I couldn't see like everybody else." When Macie wanted to get her driver's license her mother finally had to tell her she would not be able to drive.

Her mother Rochelle told us “but instead of telling her 'There's no hope at all,' every four months I would get on the Internet and I would look for something: some kind of cure, some kind of treatment for ONH."

Treatment in China

Macie received adult stem cell treatment in the Summer of 2008. After positive results, she returned in the Spring of 2010 for a second round of stem cell treatments. During her second treatment, she received six umbilical cord stem cell packets injected via IV and lumbar puncture.

Condition Following Treatment

During Macie's first treatment in 2008, she began to see improvements in her vision. Macie's nystagmus decreased. Macie's mother Rochelle noted that “after Macie's third treatment, she went from being able to read 2 inches from her face to… being able to read like an extra 12-16 inches." Macie was able to look people in the eye. She was able to distinguish people's faces and the color of their eyes.

When talking about the changes after her first treatment, Macie told us “it’s a whole new world. That's the only way I can explain it. It's a whole new world." During Macie's second treatment in 2010, she primarily noticed changes in her left eye. Macie said her “peripheral vision is much bigger in my left eye. It's really weird for me right now, because yesterday I put on sunglasses and I could see through that lens and I've never been able to do that before."

Macie also said “a couple days ago… I could see about eight feet further away, instead of three." She described her new vision to her mother as "like looking at a snap shot photo…. or you have your panoramic picture that's very long and spread out… that's what I'm seeing now. It's like another window opened."