Mother Looking to China to Help her Daughter See

A treatment available in China may help 7-year-old Riley Cox see, hear and play for the first time in her life. Riley has optic nerve neuropathy, hydrocephalus -- water on the brain -- cerebral palsy and is deaf and blind. She was born four months prematurely and spent six months in the neonatal intensive care unit at Memorial Hospital in South Bend. Optic nerve neuropathy is a disorder causing a lack of oxygen to the optical nerve. Riley had undergone several operations as an infant to save her eyesight but none were successful. Now Riley’s mom is banking on an experimental treatment to give Riley some vision and give her a reprieve from her everyday battle. She is reaching out to family, friends and neighbors to help her raise the $30,000 it takes get Riley to Hang-zhou, China and receive the stem cell treatment. Cox hopes the stem cell therapy will restore some of her vision and, she hopes, help with her other disabilities. In China, Riley would receive seven treatments, with the f

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