2-year-old, family to travel to China for eye surgery

By Rachel R. BasingerTRIBUNE-REVIEW NEWS SERVICESaturday, December 1, 2007
Jessie and Josh Fend and her husband, Josh, never anticipated traveling to China for a surgical procedure. But in June they are hoping to do just that to try and give sight to their 2-year-old son.
At 6 months, Cody was diagnosed with optic nerve hypoplasia, or ONH.


"His eye is fine, but the optic nerve that connects the eye to the brain is only half there," said his mother, who is formerly of Scottdale. "He has some light sensory, but can't see anything else."
The couple felt something was wrong soon after Cody was born.
"As a baby he would not really focus on you, so we took him to a specialist who diagnosed him with ONH," Jessie Fend said.
After getting a second opinion from a specialist at the Cleveland Clinic, the couple searched to find what might correct the problem.
The answer was devastating: nothing.
"They told us that there was no kind of operation or even a transplant that could be done because they needed his own nerves to grow," Jessie Fend said.
The only glimmer of hope is an infusion of stem cells to help Cody's nerves to grow. But the stem-cell surgery has not yet been approved in the United States.
The Fends were patient. They watched their son grow and adjust one day at a time.
"He's a normal 2-year-old who throws temper tantrums and loves to play with my pots and pans rather than a roomful of toys," Jessie Fend said. "The only thing holding him back is his vision."
Family friends from Cranberry in Butler County who have a daughter with the same condition told the Fends of a possible stem cell surgery that could allow the optic nerve to grow and give Cody sight. The Fends were ecstatic.
The only drawback: The surgery is offered in China.
"When I first heard about it I thought 'Oh my gosh, this is great,' but we were a little nervous about going to a foreign country where we don't speak the language and putting our child's fate in their hands," Jessie Fend said.
After doing research, the family learned that the stem cells used in the surgery would be from umbilical cords and not aborted embryos or fetuses. They decided to try it.
But because their insurance does not cover such operations, they have to raise $50,000 to pay for the trip and the surgery.
"We'll be in China for three weeks while Cody receives the treatments and therapies," Jessie Fend said.
Cody will receive the new stem cells intravenously and through a spinal tap and then go through therapy to help him deal with his new sight.
"They need to get the brain to realize what it's seeing," Jessie Fend said. "Sight is one thing, but vision is another.
There have been five procedures done in China on American children that have produced good results, but there is no guarantee that the surgery will restore sight.
"We're still willing to try, because the worst that could happen is that it won't work and he won't be any worse off than he is now," Jessie Fend said. "But if it even restores sight just a little more than it is now, it will be well worth it to try and give our son some shot at a normal life."
Fundraising efforts started with a bit of seed money from family members.
Shirley Morgan of Scottdale said she and her husband are committed to doing what's needed for their grandson.
"We're a little worried about them going all the way to China, but this is something that definitely has to be done because it's the biggest chance we have right now for Cody," she said.
Recently the Fends, the Morgans and several other family members participated in the Butler parade and passed out literature and pamphlets about Cody's situation.
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