After a very long 3 weeks and lots of ups and downs we are finally home again! Dougie did great with all his treatments and was such a trooper for those lumbar injections we were so worried about. We couldn’t be more happy with there skills and experience with kids. Dougie barley cried getting IV’s because they were so quick with it all!
Since treatments we have already noticed improvements in Dougie. His eyes don’t wander around as much which means they are seeing something to stop and try and focus on. He is also responding to light at a further distance. About a foot further than before. He also seems to watch TV. Not in the same sense as we do but he does turn his head toward the light and gets big smiles (specifically for Super why, his now 1st favorite TV show!) It is soo excited to notice these little things and hope we keep noticing more and more!
We got to know the other families more and more as the time went on and built some good new friendships in such a short time. There was a little girl name Jasmine who has been 3 times in the last year and a half. Before the first treatment she couldn’t talk, walk, not even bare weight on her legs, and also had trouble with sight. Since then she now does all the above and some! It’s really exciting to hear and see these stories and gives us even more faith that Dougie will improve if we keep at it!
We didn’t get to explore much of China b/c the humidity and Dougie weren’t happy with each other so to make sure he was as comfy as could be we hung out inside in the air. We made Starbucks our safe haven and after eating lots of McDonalds and Pizza Hut we found an Italian Restaurant that was AMAZING. This too made being there much easier.
With seeing results already we do have plans on going back in the future but will be taking some time to enjoy the family life. We will keep you updated with any new results or other big things going on in his life. If you want to help us now, vote for Dougie at the Gerber Generation Photo Search of 2012, on Facebook. Just search Doug from NJ. The 1st place winner wins $50,000 and this would send us to China 1 and ½ times!!! It would be really cool and save us a lot of work from fundraising! 2nd place winner gets $10,000 which is just as great! You can vote once a day until September 24th! Help us out!!!!!
We have been back for a couple weeks now but were getting things together for Dougie’s 2nd Birthday which just passed this Saturday. It was a great turn out and everyone partied like a rock star (as our theme was ‘Rock Star’) Dougie has been informed that he can now be terrible and is testing the waters every day. He is also a lot more confident with his walking and using so many new words like ‘ilk’ (milk) and ‘Row-Row’ (to sing row your boat). When u hand him his cup he will say ‘gank-goo’ (thank-you) and at dinner he will ask for ‘mer ore’ (more).
We just want to again let everyone know how appreciative we are. We wouldn’t have been able to do any of this on our own and because of all you help Dougie’s life is changing for the better! Words will never be able to express the love and thankfulness we have. THANK-YOU! THANK-YOU! THANK-YOU!
About Me
- Dougie
- Doug was born on September 1, 2010. At 2 months old he was diagnosed with Optic Nerve Hypoplasia(ONH). ONH is when you have an under developed optic nerve causing vision impairment. In Doug’s case, his optic nerves are about 75% smaller than average size. We were told there was nothing we can do to improve his vision, but we refused to believe that was it. After hearing about stem cell treatments being done in China, that include multiple injections & various therapies, we began fundraising. We were able to raise enough money and went to China end of July, 2012. Since then we have noticed multiple changes in Dougie's vision. He is responding to things double to triple the length he was prior, and also reacting to different colors that he had never responded to prior to going. We are ready to go back and have began fundraising for more treatments because we feel they will only improve his vision more. These treatments are not cheap and insurance does not cover any of it. Starting at $24,000 plus travel and expenses, we need around $40,000 total. We did it once; we know we can do it again! Please help us create this MIRACLE and help give our son the gift of sight.
