Harvey Jones

Age 3, England

Septo-Optic Dysplasia (SOD)

Watch his video on Vimeo here

Condition Before Treatment



Harvey was born with Septo-Optic dysplasia (SOD), a congenital condition that is the consequence of the underdevelopment of the septum, the lower part of the brain that includes the optic nerve and the pituitary gland. Harvey, like most people with SOD, has severe vision problems.

His dad, Daniel, describes Harvey's diagnosis,

"While we noticed when he was a baby he wasn't focusing on anything, so we took him to our local GP, twice, and they said he was all right, it's just taking him longer for his eyes to get fixed. Then we took him back to the hospital to see his consultant and he is the one who diagnosed him straight away, and sent him off for MRI scans, hormone tests and it turns out he had SOD."

Daniel talks about how they decided to bring Harvey to China for stem cell treatment,

"We saw an article in the paper about Dakota Clark, about their family coming over and the improvements they have seen. As soon as we read that we just went for it. We found out all the risks, what could happen, what could not happen, things like that, and then just fund raised to get the money."



Treatment in China

Harvey received 8 umbilical cord blood stem cell injections. He also received physical therapy, occupational therapy, electric wave therapy, and acupuncture.




Condition After Treatment



Harvey's mom, Sarah, describes the progress he made while in hospital,

"After the second stem cell injection, we were holding his bottle and things like that in front of him, about 2 feet away, and he was reaching for them. And then after about the fourth or the fifth stem cell injection we were getting to smaller and smaller things. Straws and other smaller things and he was reaching for them. After the sixth stem cell, he told us he wanted to move the pram and we asked if he could see it. And he just walked right over to it and pushed it and it was a good 3 feet away."

Previously he had problems with his bowels, that also appeared to improve after the stem cell injections.

Harvey had also had trouble walking and lacked confidence when standing on his own. His father describes how Harvey's walking improved while he was in China,

"Since we came and he's been having physio, he's got a lot more confidence in himself about standing up. He will grab hold of the wall and walk around by himself, and he just starts to go where he wants to go now. He would never do that before."

His mom talks about how she thinks having stem cell treatment will affect Harvey's quality of life,

"The way he is now compared to the way he was before we came, it's already changed him. It's already given him a better quality of life. So hopefully over the next couple of months it will just keep getting better."