Girl To Get Stem-Cell Procedure In China

Savannah Suffers From Optic Nerve Hypoplasia

POSTED: 3:06 pm CDT July 22, 2008

UPDATED: 6:54 pm CDT July 22, 2008

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A mid-Missouri family is getting ready for a trip to China that they hope will change the way the world looks for their 8-year-old daughter.

Savannah Watring's world is rich with smells, sounds and textures, but her vision is limited to light and dark.

KMBC's Bev Chapman reported that Savannah has an amazing ability to recognize artists by just touching and holding their CDs.

"When she was diagnosed, it was devastating. 'She's blind. Go home and deal with it. This is the way it is. There's nothing that can be done,'" said RaVana Watring, Savannah's grandmother.

But Watring never gave up. When she saw an article about an experimental stem-cell treatment in China for children such as Savannah, who suffers from a condition known as optic-nerve hypoplasia, she knew she had to do something.

"We'd sell everything we had to take her to China to give her sight," Watring said.

But the tiny town of Syracuse, population 175, was not about to let that happen. When news spread of Savannah's sight, of the $50,000 her family needed for treatment and travel, cards, letters and money came pouring in from all over the state.

"Each one has been read and cried over," said Shonna Millsap, who is Savannah's aunt. "I just can't believe people would be so kind."

The few Chinese phrases that Savannah knows will come in handy. The family leaves Wednesday for four weeks. The family knows there are no guarantees the procedure will work, but they have faith.

"She may never see like you and I, but if she can see her family's faces, it'll be a miracle," Watring said.

During her four weeks in China, Savannah will receive six treatments usings umbilical cord stem cells. The procedure has resulted in improvements for at least one other child from Missouri. The family said they are concerned about traveling to a foreign country for an experimental procedure, but they believe it's her only chance for sight.

Optic nerve hypoplasia is a prenatal problem in which the optic nerve simply fails to develop. Doctors don't really know why, but it is the leading cause of childhood blindness, Chapman reported.