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Hi, my name is Natasha Botke and I am helping my friend Anna Lynch raise funds to travel to Germany to obtain treatment to improve her quality of life by stabilizing her vision. Anna has Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) in both eyes which means she is legally blind and will continue to have progressive vision loss over time. Since about 2018, Anna has seen a significant decline in her vision. As you can imagine, this is frustrating, scary, and life-changing. She relies on the assistance of her husband, Bob, as well as close friends and family to navigate the world outside their home. She also uses different types of assistance devices to help her read text so that it can be large enough that words and letters are not blurred together. Depending on the lighting of the environment she is in, she is constantly trying to adjust conversational positioning and/or putting on or removing her glasses. Her primary care doctor informed her of a clinic in Berlin, called the Federov Restore Vision Clinic, which has been developing vision restoration methods since the early 1990s. The clinic itself was officially founded in 2015 to improve the eyesight of visually impaired patients. It is the gap between ophthalmology and neurology to improve vision loss in a non-surgical way. They do not claim to make a person's retina healthy again but do expect to see measurable improvements in their vision. For Anna, this means vision stabilization (further loss of vision resulting from a steady progression of the disease can be avoided or significantly slowed) and decreased light sensitivity. Anna's trip to the clinic will involve 12 treatments over two consecutive weeks. They are leaving September 23rd and treatments will be September 25-October 6, 2024. These treatments are non-invasive and use electrical stimulation therapy. The cost of these treatments is approximately $12,000 (10,900 EUR) and that does not include the cost of flights, hotel, food, or an interpreter, as Anna is also deaf. The goal of this endeavor is to prevent further deterioration of the retinas and stabilize her vision. The goal of this fundraiser is to help Anna and Bob reduce their out-of-pocket costs, as they are technically on a fixed income and are having to dip into their retirement savings. Any help you may be able to provide is deeply appreciated. The estimated cost of the hotel rooms and flights for Anna, Bob, and an interpreter is around $5,500. If we could find a way to have some or all of these expenses covered for them, that would be amazing. Thank you for taking the time to read about Anna and her journey. With your generous support, Anna would have an opportunity to return to her usual routine such as working on her favorite crafts, walking trails, and enjoying beautiful views. If you are not familiar with Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), it is a group of rare eye diseases that affect the retina. The retina is the light-sensitive layer of tissue in the back of the eye. RP makes cells in the retina break down slowly over time, causing vision loss. RP is a genetic disease that people are born with. Progressively worsening symptoms can include tunnel vision due to a restricted visual field and loss of peripheral vision, low or blurry vision, and photosensitivity. As the disease progresses, reading takes longer and is accomplished with an increased number of pauses. It also requires energy due to compensatory actions such as hand movements to help center the characters being read in the visual field, or head movements to extend reading distance. A reduced visual field also causes a change in contrast sensitivity (the ability to distinguish between shades of gray) that affects daily visual functioning and lifestyle. Fedorov Therapy uses repeated transorbital alternating current stimulation (rtACS) that doesn’t require an operation or the implantation of electrodes in the eye. Fedorov Therapy is not aimed at the replacement of damaged cells but instead is focused on increasing the usefulness of preserved neurons on the retina and the improvement of conductivity along the optic nerve. Research has shown that if such stimulation is performed over several weeks, there’s significant activation of the visual system at all levels and throughout the brain. This new, functional state of the visual system is referred to as “ induced plasticity.” Such plasticity is strongly needed to restore sight when there’s deterioration as a result of optic nerve damage. You can visit the clinic's website for more information at www.restorevisionclinic.com to learn more about what they stand for and the process used to treat Retinitis Pigmentosa.




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