Helping Grace

GRACIE UPDATE: Not so good news. We have not been able to get her pressure under control. The pain has been daily and at times unbearable. We have had to introduce strong pain meds. We are scheduling glaucoma valve surgery for Friday the 24th. We need to find her relief. Her vision is gone in that eye. All we care about now is a full day without pain. This will be a difficult surgery. She will probably lose mobility of the eye but if we can get the pressure under control she will at least keep it and maybe one day be able to use it. She has some concerns and is so tired of surgeries but she knows it has to be done. She is still my hero. She is still my amazing Grace. 1/17/2014

Amazing Grace...My daughter truly lives up to her name. Almost 13 years ago Grace was born blind in one eye. She had a cataract removed when she was only 8 weeks old. The day after that surgery, she developed Glaucoma in both eyes. She has had 12 surgeries total since then. After 10 years of vision therapy and stable pressure, we decided to give her the chance to have the best site she could by doing a lens implant. That surgery was a success and Grace was finally able to see almost like everyone else. After a year of wonderful vision and feeling normal, her lens slipped causing double vision. When her surgeon went in to stitch the lens back in to place, the lens broke. She had to have it replaced and in doing so, there was a lot of damage done to the inside of her eye. For the past year Grace has had to endure lots of pressure spikes and pain. These spikes have done quite a bit of damage to her cornea. Grace is now blind again in that eye. Because of the damage to her eye, Grace has had to give up 2 things she absolutely loves most in life, Dance and Playing trumpet. Both of these activities cause her eye to hemorrhage and that backs her glaucoma up. She has also had to give up her bed and she now sleeps in a chair upright to keep her pressure from rising and doing more damage. Sleeping lying down has even caused her eye to hemorrhage. We have decided after a year of her enduring the constant pain, exhaustion, weekly doctor visits and over all lack of a normal life that it is time to remove the lens again and NOT replace it. We also just found out she is not a good candidate for a corneal transplant because of the condition of her eye and her age. We hope to only have to do one more glaucoma surgery down the road if necessary if the lens removal is successful. We will be traveling back and forth to Oschner New Orleans to have these surgeries done and for follow appoinments. I have wonderful medical insurance that will help with most of the cost of surgery but unfortunately it will not cover every expense we will incur. That is why we have turned to GoFundMe.com. This is a very beautiful, smart, loving little girl that truly deserves some normal back in her life. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you....Grace's Mom