Big Adventure and A Cure

A big adventure, and hopefully a cure, is in store for young girl
By DAVID A. WILSONDemocrat Staff
Savannah Watring, 7, Syracuse, is headed for a big adventure and hopefully a cure for her handicap-blindness.
Savannah, who was born blind, is a student at Tipton Elementary School in JoAnn Huhmann's first grade class and plans to head for China to take part in an experimental medical procedure.
A benefit dinner, drawing and auction is being held on Sunday, Dec. 9, at the Tipton Knights of Columbus to help raise the estimated $100,000 needed to fund the travel, procedure, and post-procedure treatment.
At school, Savannah, daughter of Brent Watring and Suzie MacLaren, is assisted by an aid and, although she knows her classroom well enough to navigate safely, she uses a cane to negotiate the hallways inside the school and the sidewalks outside. Although some of the games the class plays must be modified in order for Savannah to participate, with assistance, she takes part in many group class activities.
In addition to regular classroom work, Mary Watkins and Marsha Metzner assist Savannah in her Braille studies and Jennifer Turner is her orientation and mobility instructor.
Savannah loves music, according to her family. When she was an infant, all of her toys were musical. She takes piano lessons, playing by ear, and really looks forward to going to the lesson each week.
Now, at age 7, she loves all kinds of music, especially favoring country music. Her favorite radio station is Clear 99.3, and she has met Carrie and Uncle Scottie.
Savannah has sung the national anthem for WRCA rodeo events, and also can sing the Canadian anthem. She also likes gospel music and sings at church. For this year, Savannah is cutting a CD of Christmas songs.
She also loves to horseback ride, and has her own pony named Benny. Savannah has taken part in a number of rodeos, winning more than 40 ribbons for first, second and third place in barrel racing, goat-tying, and when younger, mutton-busting. Because Savannah is blind, someone, usually her stepmother Hannah Kauffman, is beside her when she competes, but she and Benny seem to work very well together. Savannah is outgrowing Benny, but even when she is too big to ride him, he will continue to be a favorite pet on the farm.
According to her family, Savannah's blindness became evident at the age of about eight weeks, when it was noticed she was not “tracking” the way most babies do at that age. After visits to several doctors and a lot of tests, she was diagnosed with Optic Nerve Hypoplasia (ONH), and her family was told she would never see.
ONH is an underdevelopment of the optic nerves. According to information available, there is rarely any identifiable cause for ONH, or any particular group that falls victim to it any more than another. It is generally considered that there is no cure, but research in China has led to experimental surgical treatment which has shown some success.
The procedure uses umbilical cord-blood stem cells. Stem cells are harvested from the umbilical cord of a newborn, and transplanted into the patient. Although the process sounds simple, it isn't. It requires some specialized techniques and more than one transplant of an estimated 10 to 15 million stem cells.
Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that, after the right chemical signals are sent by the body, can develop into specialized cells. Cord-blood stem cells are abundant and some procedures using them appear to have yielded good results.
Savannah said she hopes to leave for China in late February or early March of 2008. Her parents and her grandmother, RaVana Watring, are accompanying her on the trip. She will first go to Shanghai. Grandfather Wayne Watring will drive them to the airport. Her other grandmother is Helen Hayes, Stover.
“Then we have a three-hour taxi ride,” Savannah said.
The taxi will take the family to Nanjing to the research medical facility to have the procedure done. As her family has said, “she has nothing to lose and so much to gain” from the procedure.
The fundraiser dinner, called “Hope for Savannah's Sight,” is from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., on Sunday, Dec. 9, at the Tipton Knights of Columbus Hall, at a cost of $10 for adults and $5 for children ages 6-12. The auction begins at 1 p.m.
Those unable to attend the dinner, may help by sending a donation to: Save Savannah's Sight, care of Commerce Bank, 232 South Osage, Tipton, Mo 65081.
For information, call 660-298-3250 or 660-221-5006.
At the Tipton Elementary School, Savannah Watring works on learning Braille assisted by Mary Watkins. (Photo provided)