We have a lot to thank Birmingham Children's Hospital Eye Department for after they diagnosed our gorgeous son as having a very rare eye condition at only 10 weeks old. Within just 2 weeks of his first consultation he was having the first of three surgeries to try and save his sight.

Joe's retinas were already detaching and because his disease was so aggressive there was already a lot of damage already done in his few weeks of age. The surgery lasered back his retinas and killed a lot of the abnormal blood vessels that had caused a large hemorrhage behind his right eye. 

Joe has since been diagnosed with several other, more minor conditions and now at 21 months old at the time of writing this post he has had over 30 appointments at the hospital who have been amazing in monitoring and treating him.

 

Although Joe's main condition 'Familial Exudative Vitreoretinopathy' is an unstable one which can reactivate at any time, Joe has this year far surpassed any medical expectation and now has fairly good vision.

 

Hopefully with time and further treatment this will improve but even if it does not the Children's Hospital have enabled Joe to have a rich and vibrant life, full of possibilities. The hospitals fast acting diagnosis and expert treatment means that our life has changed from upset and worry for what the future would hold for our precious boy living with a severe visual impairment to excitement about what the future holds for him.

 

Birmingham Children's Hospital initially told us Joe would likely have to rely on Braille but thanks to them this is unlikely to become the reality.  As parents, the pain of knowing our little boy could not even see our face smiling down at him broke our hearts but thanks to Birmingham Children's Hospital Joe now looks at us and beams and every time he does we know that this is all thanks to them and we are forever grateful.

 

Please imagine your life without the gift of sight, or worse still your children without the gift of sight and dig deep for the Children's Hospital Eye Department today!

 

Thank You, 

from me and my world, Joe Joe