Summer09_motherandson“With a broken heart and no where else to turn, I found the National Keratoconus Foundation…”

When 11-year old?Michael Caddigan?was?diagnosed in January 2008, his?keratoconus was a minimal disability in his right eye. By April 2009, the Long Island, NY, native?s vision had deteriorated, and he developed KC in his left eye, as well. And on top of that, he was contact-lens intolerant. His doctor told the Caddigan family that Michael?s only hope was a corneal transplant and that he could no longer help them.

“With a broken heart and no where else to turn, I found the National Keratoconus Foundation,” Michael?s mother, Maryalice Caddigan, says. “I can?t say enough about the heartfelt concern and kindness I was given on each and every phone call.”

A nurse herself, Caddigan credits NKCF Director, Cathy Warren, RN, with giving her the assistance and much-needed resources to get help for her son.

The Caddigans have trips planned to the Boston Foundation for Sight for Michael to be fitted for scleral lenses, and to Germany, where he plans to undergo corneal cross-linking surgery.

“One hundred percent of this intervention is because of Cathy,” Caddigan says. “Aside from the fact that she has been such a support to me – even on my worst days when I thought I would completely crumble – she has put us in touch with doctors, hospital facilities and even helped me find a hotel in Germany.

Posted December 2010