Girl, 4, sees parents for the first time thanks to miracle stem cell operation

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 8:02 AM on 15th December 2010

A little girl who has been blind since birth has seen her mother and father for the first time - at the age of four.

Izabelle Evans can now see up to three feet in front of her after groundbreaking stem cell treatment in China costing £50,000.

Parents James Evans and Hollie McHugh said nothing could beat the feeling of the first time their daughter looked into their eyes and said: 'mummy' and 'daddy'.

Hollie, 24, of Hayling Island, Hampshire, said: 'The results were better than we could ever have dreamed of.

'If you walk past she can see you and say 'hiya.' It is amazing because doctors here said she couldn't see anything at all before we went.'

Izabelle was blind from birth after being born with Septo Optic Displasia - a congenital condition which affects just five in one million babies and also causes hormone deficiency and mobility problems.

It means she had only a few hundred optic nerves to her brain whereas she needs millions to be able to see.

Her parents decided to send Izabelle for treatment in China after researching her condition on the internet and raised the money needed in just over a year.

Her parents had hoped the controversial stem cell treatment - which is not available in the UK - would improve her sight, speech and mobility.

It involves injecting the spinal canal with cells taken from the umbilical cords of healthy babies. The cells are then used to rebuild the optic nerves.

Hollie said: 'We've seen lots of changes. Her speech has improved a lot. Before she went she could only say one or two words but now we can have a little conversation with her.

'Her walking has improved and she can support her own weight on her legs now.

'Because she has not used her eyes before we have to remind her to use them. She went back to school and they have seen a difference too.

'She picks things up and holds them close to her face. A couple of days after we got back I put the Christmas tree up and she reached out to grab for the lights.

'Last year she wasn't even aware we had a Christmas tree. It's just amazing. I can't wait for her to open her presents and experience it all for herself.

'We're just over the moon and so, so happy. It is better than anything we expected and we can't thank everyone who helped us enough. We are so grateful.'

The month-long stay in China's Qingdao Chengyang People's Hospital was not easy for the family.

Izabelle had to endure gruelling treatment with just two days off a week. She often became very upset when having the stem cell treatment and it was hard for her parents to see her in pain.

Izabelle also had acupressure, standing therapy, physiotherapy and electric wave therapy to stimulate her tight muscles, which is another aspect of her condition.

Her father James, 24, said: 'We're going to wait six months because the stem cells continue to work for six months if she stays healthy.

'We're going to keep an eye on her, see how her vision is, and then decide if we'll go back out there again and see if we can improve even more.'

Great-Grandmother Says She Has Some Eyesight Back After Undergoing Stem-Cell Treatment In China.

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:22 AM on 2nd November 2010

'When I got back to Heathrow Airport last Wednesday I could see such a lot. It was unbelievable,' said Dorothy.

'The other day I saw a crow on the fence in my garden and had to check with people that I could actually see it but I did see it. It is amazing.

'The doctors said it could take another six months to a year before my sight gets as good as it will be, but it is much better already. It was definitely worth it.'
Dorothy's plight began when she woke up one morning in February last year to discover she had gone blind.

She was diagnosed with giant cell arteritis, an inflammatory disease of blood vessels.
Doctors in the UK said they could not restore her sight, but the Chinese hospital said it offered pioneering stem cell treatment that could restore her vision.
Stem cells are the very early cells that can develop into almost all other types of cell and tissue.
Dorothy went through a course of daily wave therapy and acupuncture, with weekly stem cell injections, for 43 days before arriving back home to her husband Percival in Springfield, Hardwicke.

Dorothy's main aim is to see her two-year-old great grandson Chris this Christmas.

The mother-of-four, grandmother-of-seven and great-grandmother of two, said: 'I really looking forward to being able to see Chris.

'As soon as his parents can get here to visit I am hoping to see him. They live on the army camp so it might be a little while, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.'
Well wishers had organised parachute jumps, bingo evenings and fun days to raise the money to send Dorothy on her trip.

Dorothy added: 'I am so pleased that everyone helped to raise this money. It is so wonderful that everybody did it for me. I really couldn't have done it without them.'

Her daughter Vicky, who kept a blog on the experience, said she and her mother went to Qingdao Hospital where her treatment was overseen by Dr Tony Lao.

'The main treatment was a weekly injection of stem cell fluid taken from umbilical cords at a maternity centre in Beijing and flown to Qingdao,' she said.

'Mum had to have two injections of the fluid into her right eye without anaesthetic, one of which was very painful. There were also six injections of fluid into her hand.

'Every day she had wave therapy, which involves electrical impulses to stimulate the parts of the brain involved. And she had acupuncture every day with one needle in the top of her head, two in her wrists, two in her knees and two in her ankles.

'The hospital has become known throughout the world for this treatment that it has been performing since 2004. We met other patients there who had flown in from Brazil, Canada and America for it.

'Mum has good days and bad days with her sight now. She can see shapes and bright lights and on some days much more than that. One day when we were out there she was able to see the writing on a sign quite clearly.

'The doctor said she should hopefully get steadily better over the next six to 12 months. After a year her sight will probably be as good as it's going to get.'