*** VISITA LA VERSION EN ESPAÑOL***
FERNANDA PALAFOX
Hi, my name is Fernanda Palafox Reyes and I’m 6 years old, I’m blind. I was diagnosed with Hypoplasia in the Optic Nerve when I turned 2. Even though I was born this way, my daddies didn’t know why I couldn’t fix my eye sight, the reason was that my Optical Nerve stopped its normal development. So I’ve always tried to adapt to a very visual world, without being able to see.
Until very recently, the Hypoplasia in the Optic Nerve had no cure, but now, Chinese Medical Doctors have discovered a procedure based in the implantation of Mother Cells that activate the growth and recovery of the optical nerve, and acquiring with this visibility. As of today, the treatment it’s only done in China and it is very expensive. As an only resource for Fernanda to obtain her LIGHT, we are recurring to your good will to raise the necessary amount for her treatment and transportation. Any contribution for this altruistic cause can be made through the available options in this blog. One option is by using the Donation Button though a PayPal Account, or in Mexico, through a bank deposit opened for this purpose. Both options can be found to the right upper corner of this message. ---------------------->
If Fernanda manages to see the LIGHT, she will come out of her dark world, and you can be part of her Happiness.
ABOUT FERNANDA
Fernanda was born on May 14, 2003 after a very normal pregnancy. She was born with ONH but nobody told us anything because this is something you don´t notice very easily. By the time she turned 2 months, we went to her routine check up with the Pediatrician. That day he checked her eyes with a little light and he noticed that her pupils expanded as they received light, so he explained to us that the pupils usually contract when they receive light as to protect the eye. So he risked to say that Fer was blind but that we needed to go to an Ophthalmologist Pediatrician, which in Tlaxcala there is none. This is when we started visiting Doctors.
We went to visit an Ophthalmologist near our house, and he told us that Fer was not blind but that she was a near-sighted person. This meant that I had to get things closer for her to see them. So I tried to put colorful things in front and near her eyes but there were no results. So I started looking up the net and found out many things about the sight. In the mean time my daughter was trying to adapt to noises she did not know where they came from.
By the time she turned 5 months we had already visited my Gynecologist who had been the one who had done the surgery for her to be born. He told us that she had a kind of syndrome and that we had to take her to a Geneticist to make all kinds of analysis to prove this or not. During that time someone recommended me a very good Pediatrician who diagnosed Fer with Down syndrome, so as you can understand I was tired of opinions I needed proofs, so we went to the Geneticist and he rejected this, she had no syndromes at all!
Meanwhile I started taking her to early stimulation sessions with other babies who had no health problems at all. She was so happy listening to the little chants we (the moms) were told to sing to our babies. She enjoyed sitting on a huge ball where I had to roll her back and forth in different positions. I remember her excitement every time we went to those sessions.
When she was 6 months old, we went to Mexico City to visit a Neuro ophthalmologist who was highly recommended by many people. He told us that Fer was still very young and that she still had the chance to develop her sight and that we had nothing to worry about. That we had a very healthy baby.
Soon after, we met Dr. Max, he is still Fer´s Pediatrician. He has been a very special person in all of this. He recommended Vojta therapy for my daughter because by that time (8 months old) she was not able to roll herself, she could not sit nor stand. All of this due to a psychomotor delay. She did not like this therapy but it showed results rather quickly. In 4 months more or less she was able to stand by her self, she was sitting up and lying down and rolling whenever she wanted. She was never able to crawl though.
She started attending a day care center because I had to work because of our finances. So her daddy was the one in charge of taking her to her therapies by then.
She started speaking really clearly when she was about 9 months old. She could count from 1 to 15 and I was really impressed because she could also sing some songs very nicely. At school her teacher told me once that she had sung some songs she had already forgotten and that Fer had reminded her of them. But I insist she was about 9 or 10 months old!
So she has always impressed everyone around her because of her great memory, her way of singing, her ability for pronouncing English very nicely (her main language is Spanish), the amount of vocabulary she manages in both languages, but despite of all this, she still does not communicate her thoughts nor feelings. So, sometimes she shows frustration by crying or even throwing up. She knows that this is all right, because it´s normal for people to get mad but that she should try to let us know what she feels. This has been something she´s been working on but it is still difficult for her to do it. Up to now no one has been able to help her out, I still don´t know if she does not want to speak or if it is that she can´t. She also does not walk by her self because she feels very afraid when we let go of her hand, she rathers fall down than try to stand by herself.
The only thing that I can assure you is that she is a happy and very loved girl, who is growing and developing at her own pace and that we have appreciated every attempt from people trying to help her. She has had many angels in her life Agustin, Martha, Dr. Enrique, Flor, Dr. Max, Viri, her baby brother, Nonna, Nonno, Pepe, Ene, Ro, Adro, Orion, etc. Everyone feels her great energy, because she is here to teach us that life is not simple but it is a great gift. I thank life for having her!
She now has a two year old brother and she has mentioned that she does not see him. This has really broken my heart because now she realizes that she cannot do things just as her brother does. So now that we know that there is a Stem Cells Treatment in China, we would like to try and take her. 40 children with ONH have been already treated and they are showing results. The parents on their blogs are talking about their kids being able to see. That´s why we need to go now that there exists something for her to get the chance to have a better quality of life and independence. Please help Fernanda in this new journey for hope!
Thank you very much for your time and support!!!
