For one local family, a trip to China means the possibility of restoring sight to their 20-month old son. But, they need help, as the trip and the experimental treatment costs thousands of dollars.
Dougie Dillon is a normal 20-month year-old boy who spends most of his time with his mother, Nicole, at their home in Mt. Laurel. He crawls, he explores, and he rolls around their home, but in a different way than most children his age.
Dougie is living his life with, optic nerve hypoplasia, which is simply an underdevelopment of the optic nerve. Dougie’s father, Doug, said that his optic nerve is about 75 percent underdeveloped of a mature optic nerve, which limits Dougie’s sight severely.
The Dillon’s need your help, so why not come out to a fundraiser on Saturday, May 19 at Rita’s Water Ice in Moorestown on Main Street, to help brighten the future of a young child.
Through Doug and Nicole’s research, they found that a hospital in China offers special “stem cell” therapy to help restore some semblance of sight to those who are diagnosed with ONH. Fearing a scam, they found a Facebook page dedicated to American families that had or were considering making the month long trip to China to help out a loved one with the condition.
After weeks of conversations with families that had undergone the trip, the Dillons decided to take Dougie to China for the treatment.
The cost of the trip and the eight IV injections of stem cell treatments? More than $30,000.
But, the township can help the Dillons and Dougie. Rita’s Water Ice on W. CamdenAvenue is holding a special “Kiddie Carnival” day on Saturday, May 19. The family will get 15 percent of all money brought into the store on that day for their trip and Dougie’s treatment.
There will be carnival games, food, face painting, and balloons outside of the water ice store from noon to 4 p.m.
Through various other fundraisers, the family only needs a little more than $3,000 to book their trip. Doug and Nicole both stressed that there are no embryonic cells used during the procedure.
Want to learn more about the family or how to donate to their trip? Check out their website at www.DougsJourneytoSight.blogspot.com.
