Our daughter, Stella (born December 2021), was born with a very rare condition called Sclerocornea, which is where the sclera (the white part of the eye) grows over the cornea, causing her to see nothing more than light perception. The only treatment for this condition is a cornea transplant. Because this condition affects both eyes, she will need a double cornea transplant.

Due to the anatomy of her eyes and the complexity of her condition, we were told that no doctor in Minnesota would do this for her. We were then told about a doctor in Pittsburgh, PA who would possibly take on her case. After meeting with this doctor, we discovered that he'd be happy to take on her case and believes that it would be successful. How successful, we don't know yet. But it's definitely worth a shot!

The doctor's plan is to start by doing a test to see how much she can see, which will take place in about a month (mid-April). Then, based on the results of that test (which he believes will be favorable to doing the operations), he will schedule the transplant for the first eye for the end of May and the transplant for the second eye for the beginning of June. Additionally, six weeks after each procedure he will put her to sleep AGAIN to go in and remove the sutures from the original transplants. If this is not done the eyes WILL reject the new corneas. Because of all these procedures and the fact that she will need to be monitored twice a week for signs of rejection, we will need to stay in Pittsburgh the entire time. This could be a total of eight or nine weeks from the first cornea transplant to the end of the recovery for the last suture removal. We will also need to be there in-person for the test in about a month.

As you can imagine, this process is going to be very expensive. Between medical bills, plane tickets, housing, food, and having to take an uber everywhere because we don't drive due to being visually impaired ourselves, the cost will add up VERY quickly. We also have an older child so we will need to include him in the cost as well.

We honestly have no concept of just how much this is going to cost yet so we have no idea if the goal amount of $5,000 is too little, too much, or just right. No matter what, please know that every dollar helps and every cent of what we raise will go towards funding this process.

Although she would be able to live a completley fulfilled life with blindness, we are eternally grateful for every dollar that is donated and for the chance to give our daughter this opportunity. Having vision is something everyone should be given the opportunity to experience if possible and we hope that Stella can have her chance. But we can't do this without you!

Please share this with as many people as you can to get Stella's story out there and to help us give her the gift of sight. We can do this! :)