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

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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