His excellent teachers at Silver Lake Elementary started to share with us when Noah was in Kindergarten that he was having trouble with his eyesight. After many eye doctor appointments, a failed attempt with glasses, and finally a genetic test, the Cole Eye Institute: Eye Care Center | Cleveland Clinic and Cleveland Sight Center taught us how to work with Noah and advocate for the help he will nee
d. Noah is a very resilient child who has done a fantastic job advocating for himself and never allowing his ability to slow him down! Please help us in our quest to cure the retinal diseases causing blindness! You can help restore sight to millions living in by attending VisionWalk with me, donating, or both! We are walking in support of Stargardt's. Your financial support and walking with me on Walk Day will bring us closer to a cure for blinding retinal degenerative diseases. A little about Stargardt's...
Stargardt disease is a rare genetic eye disease that happens when fatty material builds up on the macula — the small part of the retina needed for sharp, central vision. Vision loss usually starts in childhood — but some people with Stargardt disease don't start to lose their vision until adulthood. Unfortunately, there's no treatment for Stargardt disease, but vision rehabilitation can help people make the most of their remaining vision. The most common symptom of Stargardt disease is a slow loss of central vision in both eyes. Some people lose their central vision more quickly than others. Cause...
Changes in a gene called ABCA4 usually cause Stargardt disease. This gene affects how your body uses vitamin A. The body uses vitamin A to make cells in the retina (the light-sensitive layer of tissue at the back of the eye). Then the ABCA4 gene makes a protein to clean up the fatty material that's left over. In Stargardt disease, this gene doesn't work — so the fatty material builds up in yellowish clumps on the macula. Over time, this fatty material kills the light-sensitive cells and destroys your central vision. Stargardt disease is an inherited genetic disease, which means it gets passed down from parents to children.
