![]() PID Dennis contacted Past Council Chair David Rich and his wife Penny and asked them if they would be willing to host Tammie while she was here. PID Mike contacted Oregon PID Dennis Tichenor. Lion Guy contacted Texas Past International Director (PID) Mike Butler to talk to his contacts in Oregon about support. Lions Club President Larry Spence asked Lion Club member Guy Fambrough to see if he could get the Oregon Lions to help in Tammie’s quest. Although she now has a ticket to Portland she did not have the ability to take care of lodging and subsistence. Whitford also took Tammie’s plight to his Lions Club to see what they could do to help. Whitworth, a member of the Raymondville Lions Club, offered up his Southwest Airlines frequent flyers miles to allow Tammie to get to Portland. Tammie’s sister and brother-in-law went to a printer, Paul Whitworth, who owns the Raymondville Chronicle and asked advice on how to inexpensively print tickets for the BBQ. Her sister (who was not affected by the disease) and husband came up with the idea of having a BBQ to raise money for Tammie’s trip to Portland for the study. Tammy at that point didn’t know what to do. ![]() She was excited and discouraged at the same time because she did not have the financial ability to not only get to Portland but also could not afford lodging and subsistence. That was great news for Tammie but the immediate problem was that she lived in Raymondville, Texas and the study she had been selected to take part in was in Portland, Oregon. ![]() In mid-2011 Tammie was informed by the Oregon Casey Eye Institute that she was a potential candidate for the study. In January of 2011 she applied for an opportunity to participate in the study. Tammie, through her own curiosity and research came upon a web site called and found out about the case studies that were being undertaken. Marco Zarbin, Chair, Institute of Ophthalmology and Visual Science) additional sites may be considered. Shalesh Kaushal, Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology) the UMDNJ - New Jersey Medical School in Newark, New Jersey (headed by Dr. Peter Francis of the Oregon Health Sciences University) the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, Massachusetts (headed by Dr. Steven Schwartz) the Casey Eye Institute in Portland, Oregon (headed by Dr. The sites include the Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA (headed by Dr. A total of twelve patients will be enrolled in the study at multiple clinical sites. The clinical trials will be a prospective, open-label study that is designed to determine the safety and tolerability of the RPE cells following sub-retinal transplantation to patients with advanced SMD. We hope to see a similar benefit in patients with various forms of macular degeneration.” ![]() Near-normal function was also achieved in a mouse model of Stargardt's disease. Our studies showed that the cells were capable of extensive rescue of photoreceptors in animals that otherwise would have gone blind. In rats, we've seen 100% improvement in visual performance over untreated animals without any adverse effects. We've tested these cells in animal models of eye disease. "Using stem cells, we can generate a virtually unlimited supply of healthy RPE cells, which are the first cells to die off in SMD and other forms of macular degeneration. "There is currently no treatment for Stargardt's disease,” said Dr. Study experiments concerning Stargarts disease had been ongoing for a number of years and then finally on Novemthe US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared the way for clinical trials using retinal cells derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) to treat patients with Stargardt's Macular Dystrophy (SMD). The progression usually starts between the ages of six and twelve years old and plateaus shortly after rapid reduction in visual acuity. Stargarts disease, or fundus flavimaculatus, is an inherited juvenile macular degeneration that causes progressive vision loss usually to the point of legal blindness. While her vision was worsening she underwent may eye-related examinations and was diagnosed with Stargarts disease. Over the years her vision continually got worse and it came to the point that at the age of 25 she was declared legally blind with 20/200 vision and now 12 years later it has deteriorated to 20/400. Tammie was the second of their two children and at the age of 13 started to notice that her vision was deteriorating. Tammie Caldwell from Raymondville, Texas was born on Decemto parents who, unbeknownst to them, carried macular degeneration genes.
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