Christian Chapu
Christian Chapu is a loving and happy 4-1/2 year old boy living in Jacksonville, Florida. Christian was diagnosed with Optic Nerve Hypoplasia (ONH) in September of 2005. This is a rare congenital condition that causes blindness. Optic Nerve Hypoplasia (ONH) is the under-development of the optic nerves during pregnancy. ONH has no known cause and cannot be cured.
Until recently ONH was incurable, but that is no longer the case, there is a sight restoring procedure being preformed at Xiaoshan Hospital in Hang Zhou, China. This sight restoring procedure is only being offered in China at this time and has established a 98% improvement rate with patients.
More about the ONH procedure
The procedure consists of several umbilical stem cell transplants of 10-15 million stem cells and "Neural Growth Factors" to encourage the stem cells to find their targets.
The umbilical stem cells are transfused intravenously, into the blood stream and into the cerebral spinal fluid via a spinal tap. Christian will need a series of several transfusions with in a period of 30 days.
The stem cells used for this procedure are umbilical stem cells taken from the cord blood of health live births. Several American families have already had these treatments with miraculous results.
These treatments are very expensive and are not covered by any medical insurance. The procedure and travel expenses will cost a minimum of $60,000.
Please help us give our son Christian the priceless gift of sight. All contributions and donations will be immensely appreciated.