Emmy’s Prayer For Sight : Emmalyn Kae Latchford : Raising Funds for Emmy's Stem Cell Treatment

          When I was a little girl I loved to dance! Ballet was my favorite, I was the little girl that always was dressed up in the ballet outfit dancing around the room. I started taking lessons when I was about 4 and ended at age 16. I was what they called a “Pre-Professional”  I guess it’s because a was not old enough to be a regular Professional?!

The day we found out we were having a girl I remember thinking “I cant wait to teach her ballet and for her to be my little ballerina” I was so excited! This was one of many things that I had looked forward to years ago about having a baby girl! In another 4 or 5 months I would see my baby girl and then just a short while after that start teaching her to dance! I could not wait. This could be something we shared together, just like my Mother and I had when I was little. But little did I know that would be least of my worries.

Another moment I will never forget was the moment the Ophthalmologist looked at me and said “She was blind” everything went blank. I wanted so much for my precious little girl. Now she might not even be able to see my face, let alone be a ballerina! I was heartbroken. Everything went through my head! “How it’s  not fair, I Never smoked, drank, took all my vitamins, I did everything right!! How could this be happening to her! To us!  I felt as if my dreams for her were shattered in the matter of a moment.

She is 10 months old now and the light of my life! I thank God everyday for her! She is the most amazing blessing I have ever receive. Someone told me once that “God does not give us Children like ours to punish us but, because he trust us with them and it takes someone special to raise them”. I will never forget that!  I think about that statement often, to me it means so much but the main thing is that I will do everything in my power to giver her all the things she needs while we are here on earth! No matter what she will always be my little ballerina!
 

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The Spring (Real) Bunny Photograph fundraiser went really well! We were able to raise right at $700  total for both days. All who had their photos taken were very happy with their picture results and had a great time, especially the kids! The star of of the show was "Bob" Bob the Bunny, the kids loved Bob, he put in 2 long hard days of sitting in a Orange Terra-Cotta pot for almost each shoot, poor Bob :(  No but really Bob was a real trooper and did a great job the entire time :) 

We want to thank everyone that came and got their pictures taken and supported Emmy's cause, and a Special thanks to Beri and Louann of "Cherry Blossom Design" for taking their time and supporting us in doing the fundraiser for us and also Madelin for being such a huge help with Bob the Bunny, what a Blessing from the LORD!

By the way we were wanting to let everyone know where we are currently at in the fundraiser upto this point.

As of right now we are at $13,700! thats over 1/3 of $35,000 that we have raise since the first of the year! Not bad, not bad at all.

We will continue to keep you posted through-out of future fundraisers and with Emmy's condition.

                        Thank You for all you prayers and support!

                                                                        May God Bless

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Emmalyn had her 2nd Opthamologist appointment on Tuesday the 9th of February. The appointmant was to examine and re-evaluate the condition of her Optic Nerve.
 

This new Ophthalmologist was very nice and sincere through out the whole appointment. She made us very feel very comfortable and at peace. She thought that little Emmy was so adorable and funny because she would not stop “talking” and was making silly sounds; Emmy was in a great mood!

 

The Opthamologist started Emmy's evaluation and was very pleased and excited on how well Emmy’s eyes are performing. She turned off the light in the exam room and used a small pen light to see how well Emmy would follow it. We were all very excited! She started following the little light and she thought it was funny :] The Opthamologist continued her evaluation and Emmy did a great job! She had her tough times, but the Opthamologist thought “for the sight that Emmy has she did great”. Then it came time for the exam part of the appointment and we started to get a little nervous.

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Emmalyn had her 6 month well baby check up on Tuesday, Jan. 19th. She is 17lbs 3oz. in the 75th percentile for her height and weight she is doing very well. 

Growth and hormone issues are something that is often associated with ONH,  So the fact that she is growing so well is a great sign and a very big blessing. We also scheduled her MRI, this will confirm whether she has just ONH or ONH and SOD (Septo optic dysplasia). Because she is only 6 months old and does not know how to "be still" they will have to sedate her, as a Mother I am very nervous about that part but I know she is in the Lords hands!

On the bright side her Pediatrician is very happy about how well she is progressing.  She is also very excited for us to take Emmy to China and see how well the stem cells work for her!

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We still have a few tests to do and money to raise before we can make the miracle trip, we will need to come up with approximately 35,000 dollars for the hospital stay, treatments, doctor bills, and flight to China because none of this is covered by our medical insurance.

We are asking for any donation you can possibly make towards the miracle of sight for our baby.

We want Emmy to know that we did everything possible for her to see the beauty of God’s creations, so she can give the glory to the Lord Jesus and see the faces of the ones who helped answer her prayer. And if times are financially hard for you (we understand), and you are not able to give, would you please remember to Pray for Emmy, for God’s will to be done, and for the Lord to answer our prayer for Emmy to have sight.

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That is what brings us to now, and our special prayer for Emmy. She is now 6 months old, and we have people everywhere praying for Emmy to be healed of her ONH.

We believe our prayer is being answered, and we now have hope for Emmy. God has blessed us with new information from Emmy’s therapist that she is able to see something, even if it’s dark images, she is believed to be in the better 50% of the babies with ONH!

We are seeing miracles take place before our very eyes!! And now, we believe we are being lead to a procedure that is having amazing results in helping ONH babies improve, many to the point of sight!!!

Researched and offered by Beike Biotechnology in China for about 4 years now, the surgery involves stem cell transplants. Being pro-life people, our first question was “Where are the stem cells taken from?” They are not from aborted babies, but from the umbilical cords of live, healthy births taken exclusively from an umbilical cord bank.

As can be read in Louisa Lim's NPR article, Stem-Cell Therapy in China Draws Foreign Patients:

So far, 10 patients suffering from ONH have received the same stem-cell treatment in China, and doctors there claim that the vision of all 10 improved after the therapy.

We have even communicated with others that have already had this procedure done with miraculous results! One of our new friends took her 9 month old son who could only see bright lights and now can spot his little blue train from across the room!! They give all the glory to the Lord!!

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But Emmy’s pain didn’t stop there. We started to notice that something seemed “different” when we would look into her beautiful dark blue eyes. She wouldn’t look back at us, and her eyes would wander or bounce, but we kept hoping for the best for our beautiful little blessing.

At Emmy's 3 month pediatric check-up that her doctor made a comment about her eyes and recommended she see a pediatric ophthalmologist.

It was at that appointment that we heard the most devastating words we have ever heard, “Your baby has Optic Nerve Hypoplasia (ONH), we can’t be sure what she sees or if she  can see anything at all, and there is no treatment”.

The doctor’s file went on to state:

10 week old showing no visual attention; severe, bilateral optic nerve hypoplasia--very likely to have lifelong, severe visual handicap

How do you respond as parents when you get news like that? We were numb. We did  the only thing we knew to do…. we cried together, and then we prayed together.

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The day finally came!  Like children waiting for Christmas morning, we had waited anxiously wanting to see our beautiful baby’s face, fingers, toes and EYES! We knew we were having a girl, so we prayerfully chose the name Emmalyn Kae. 

We picked the colors for her nursery, lavender and pink-lavender, and hung her name behind her bed in big white wooden letters from pink ribbons. We had planned everything to the smallest detail…..or so we thought.  Emmy decided to make her entrance early at 36 weeks 6 days, no apparent reason, guess she was just as anxious to see us as we were to see her!

After a three-day labor she showed her beautiful face to us on July 12, 2009. She started life fighting, being delivered with forceps, having some difficulty breathing, and a low blood sugar count. She was moved into the NIC unit (intensive care for babies) , where she repeatedly endured being stuck with needles to monitor her blood count. 

 

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Hi, we are Kristen and Elmer Latchford and we have an amazing story we would like to share with you about a precious little beautiful life and the impact she has already made in her short little life so far on this earth. 

First, a brief moment to introduce ourselves and tell you about our beginning. We are a typical family, just like you and your neighbor. We met in 2005, but didn’t “fall for each other” until June of 2007, and then we fell hard and fast! We were engaged 6 months later and married the next November. 

Then, surprise!  found out we were expecting a little one shortly after the honeymoon! We were SO excited to welcome a new little blessing into our family since we both wanted 4 or 5, or more =] children.

The pregnancy went great, Kristen was very careful about everything she did or ate, and she felt pretty good. We had no reason to suspect what was about to happen next.

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