Source:Carolina Weekly Newspapers

Blind Matthews resident says overseas stem cell therapy is helping him see 

Last month, Adam Kitchen dropped a paperclip on the floor at work and picked it up with ease.

A mundane occurrence for most, it’s a major victory for Kitchen, who has been legally blind since birth and until a few weeks ago wouldn’t have been able to see the paperclip on the floor.

Matthews-Mint Hill Weekly first told you about Kitchen in September 2009. Since then, his family raised the nearly $40,000 needed to send him to China for stem cell treatments and, it appears, they’re working.

A 32-year-old Matthews resident, Kitchen admits he doesn’t look blind. The husband and father of four wears glasses and doesn’t use a walking cane or Seeing Eye dog. But Kitchen can’t drive, watch sporting events or read to his children. He has optic nerve atrophy, caused by eye nerves that didn’t fully develop. The salesman with south Charlotte’s Excite Telecommunications traveled to China in February with his wife and high school sweetheart, Lori, for the treatments. Kitchen’s 8-year-old daughter, Cora, and 28-year-old brother, Jared, have the disorder, too.

In China, Kitchen received donated umbilical cord stem cells – not embryonic stem cells – intravenously and through shots in his back over six weeks. He received a total of nine treatments. The procedure isn’t available in the U.S. He was the first adult born with eye problems the clinic had treated, Kitchen said.

Though doctors cautioned results aren’t always immediate and could take months to appear, Kitchen said he saw an improvement in his sight while he was still in China. He may not notice full results until 18 months after his last treatment.

“We would Skype with the kids every day and one day I noticed I was sitting back farther (from the computer screen) and I could see them. I just have a hard time fathoming that it could get better. It’s really surreal that it’s really happening.”

Looking out his office window before meant seeing a “glaze of green” instead of trees. Now, while Kitchen said he can’t see individual leaves, he sees “definition.” Before treatment, he couldn’t see facial expressions and there were just dark “holes” where people’s eyes should be. That’s changing too and he’s learning to change his habits, now always trying to look people in the eyes when he talks to them.

“It was like before I didn’t care because it’s like I’m not going to pretend I can see you,” he said.

And he’s spending a lot of time talking about his experience. The Kitchens, who are Christian, say they prayed fervently before signing up for the procedure and had hundreds of people, even strangers, praying for them while they were in China.

“I feel like I’ve been given this gift and I would be stupid and selfish for not letting everyone know,” he said. “It might not be the right option for everyone, but it should be an option.”
Want to know more?

For more information or to see pictures of Adam Kitchen’s trip to China, visit www.adamsprayer.com.