Calgary Sun - High hopes for eye research
November 17, 2007
By TARINA WHITE, SUN MEDIA
The mother of a partially blind four-year-old girl is thrilled Calgary eye researchers may unlock the key to reversing blindness within her daughter's lifetime.
At a conference in Calgary today, eye experts will discuss new research that is expected to make giant strides in preventing and treating blindness in the coming decades.
Natasha McDougald's daughter Rosie was born deaf and has been progressively losing her eyesight since the age of two.
"That's exciting for me because hopefully she'll be able to benefit from that in her lifetime," she said.
Rosie has Usher's Syndrome, a degenerative genetic condition that causes hearing and vision loss.
The four-year-old's hearing has been restored with a cochlear implant, but there is no cure or treatment to prevent her tunnelling vision.
Rosie has lost all peripheral vision, which includes the sides of her eyes, as well as above and below, and is learning to use a white cane to get around.
Doctors expect she will have severe vision loss by the age of 10.
But U of C eye researcher Dr. Bill Stell, chair of today's sold-out Vision Quest Conference, is hopeful of turning that around.
"Research is progressing rapidly in the areas of gene therapy, stem cell research and encapsulated cell technology," he said.
"Some types of blindness could be prevented and some vision could be restored to the blind within five, 10 or 15 years."