For the last few years Kristin McDonald, a former actress and television spokeswoman, has been applying her make-up without the aid of her eyes due to retinitis pigmentosa, a condition that reduces a person’s peripheral vision until all that is left is a pinpoint of sight.
Today, she is in a first stage study that is offering her and others hope that the injection of stem cells might be the mechanism that could slow, and maybe even halt the effects of this horrible disease. Discovery Eye Foundation helped support many of the preliminary translational studies necessary to bring the clinical trial to the FDA and get this exciting, novel approach to the patients.
I am Tom Sullivan, Ambassador of Vision for the Discovery Eye Foundation, and I was rocked when my phone rang recently and I heard the sound of my friend Kristin crying.
“What’s the matter?” I asked with real concern.
Her tears were quickly replaced by laughter, joyous laughter.
“It might be working,” she said, “I mean, the cells just might be having an impact.”
“Meaning your feeling change in your vision?” I asked.
“Tom,” she went on, “you won’t believe it. This morning when I was getting dressed and putting on my make-up, I saw my mascara in the mirror. Listen, I am not trying to tell you I can see, but since the cells were injected, I can focus on a light and even begin to notice shadows.”
“And, now,” she laughed again, “maybe I can put my mascara on straight!”
Kristin has no illusions about how far the injection of cells will take her; but, she is encouraged, as are many of the other patients who are part of Dr. Henry Klassen’s clinical study helped by DEF’s early stage funding. Maybe the old phrase really does apply – you probably know the one I mean – “hope springs eternal in the human breast.” That goes for the researchers, the patients, and all of us who treasure the gift of sight.
To read more about Kristin McDonald, visit her website at secondvision.net
Tom Sullivan
DEF’s Ambassador of Vision
sullivanvision.com
