Audrey
Audrey is a very independent 15 month old. She loves music and dancing and is calmed by a song. Audrey has Septo Optic Dysplasia. She was diagnosed at 6 weeks old. This condition affects the pituitary gland as well as the optic nerve. It requires medication twice a day including an injection at night, physical exercises to aid development and vision exercises to help develop and stimulate vision.
Shortly after she was born, Audrey was not maintaining a normal body temperature and had low blood sugar. Around 6 weeks of age, Audrey was rushed to the hospital. She was rapidly moving her head back and forth and her eyes were shaking. Doctors were concerned she was having seizures. Lucky, the doctor that gave Audrey’s diagnoses had just read an article on Audrey’s condition and knew what to test her for.
Related: Handling Your Child’s Diagnosis: Six Things Parents Should Do For Themselves [1]
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Related: What Is Blindness/Visual Impairment? [3]
While the future of Audrey’s vision is uncertain, she is currently meeting all developmental milestones. She is responding well to medication and a recent vision assessment did show an improvement. Audrey’s parents hope that she will never feel limited due to her low vision. This experience has taught them patience, determination, and dedication. While Audrey may never drive a car, they feel that anything else is up to her and all they want for her is the choice to do whatever she wants to do in life.
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Septo Optic Dysplasia
For more information go to
www.magicfoundation.org [8]
Images provided by Inview Images
www.inviewimages.com [9]
Read More Stories From The Tiny Light Foundation [10]
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This post originally appeared on our March/April 2011 Magazine [18]