Lexi is a cheerful, fun loving and very smart 9 year old with a beautiful smile, she is also blind. 

Thankfully, for Lexi, there is an amazing chance that she will be able to gain some vision!

Lexi needs to travel to a hospital located in Hang Zhou China, and we need to come up with the funds to get her there!!

That is why we are asking you, and our community to get involved!  We are estimating that we will need approximately $60,000 to get her there!! With the support of our friends, family and community we know this is Lexi's best chance. Below, read the complete biography of our wonderful and amazing Lexi Lyn and please give your gift, no matter how small.  Every single dollar counts, and the reward will make such a huge impact on her life!!

Alexys Lyn Smith was born on Wednesday November 25, 1998 at 11:33PM- the day before Thanksgiving.  Everything went great there were no signs of any complications, she seemed to be absolutely perfect!! 
At Lexi's one month physical her doctor was concerned about the way she was moving her arms, and with a family history of epilepsy the doctor wanted to be sure Lexi wasn't having seizures so she referred us to a neurologist.  The neurologist noticed Lexi's eyes were having some irregular movements so we had an MRI done and were told to see a pediatric opthomologist.
The first opthomologist that we saw dilated Lexi's pupils and looked into the back of her eyes- then he told us she had Optic Nerve Hypoplasia, was blind, would never be able to see and told us to contact the School for the Blind.  We were devastated!!  He was so cold in his delivery and he mailed us out information straight out of medical journals that we could not understand so we found a new eye doctor.  Dr. Hughes gave us the same diagnosis with the same outcome but she was so compassionate!  Once the MRI results were read it was found that Lexi is missing the septum pellucidum (a midline part of the brain) this can cause pituitary hormone dificiencies and mental retardation- we were send to Children's hospital to see an endocrinologist to have her hormone levels checked and thankfully everything was okay!! She has never had any hormone problems and she definetly does not have any mental retardation- quite the opposite, she is extremly intelligent!! 
We went to the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children to have Lexi evaluated by their Infant/Toddler program- we had more family members there than they had ever seen before! What an amazing support system we have for Lexi!!  It was determined that Lexi may be able to see light and dark but that is all.  We started receiving Vision Therapy in our home as well as occupational therapy, Lexi thrived!! She was such an easy baby and so happy all the time. 
When Lexi was 3 years old she began pre-school at the school for the blind, and let me tell you- the people that work there are the most amazing people I have ever met!!  There Lexi learned how to be more independent, such as using the bathroom unassisted, feeding herself and using a cane.  She also began learning braille and picked it up at an amazing rate, Lexi now loves to read and does so in just about all of her spare time!!
Lexi is now in the 3rd grade in a regular classroom with gifted children and she keeps right up them!!  Her favorite subjects are Spelling and reading, her least favorite is math.  Lexi takes Tap dance lessons at Dance with me by Devyn, swimming at our local YMCA and she sings in the childrens choir at St. Johns UCC.  She also goes to a sports clinic/camp for children who are visually impaired- during the summer she stays in a dorm room with other kids for 5 days!!  At camp she rides horses, climbs the rockwall, does track and field and tae-kwon-do, the kids also learn how to play goal ball- but Lexi isn't crazy about that!!
Lexi now has a baby sister, Emma, who is now learning how to drive her big sister crazy!! 

The Treatment:

The treatment consists of 5 umbilical cord stem cell infusions that will be delivered through both an IV and directly into her spinal column (please don't mention to Lexi the delivery method of the infusions, we will talk to her about it at a later date, for those of you who know Lexi you know she is a bit obsessive and she will do nothing but worry about it until it's done!! Thank you!!).  We will need to be in China for approximatly 20 days while she is receiving the infusions and therapy to help her understand what she is seeing. 
"Eyesight" is the ability to see while "Vision" is the ability to understand what you see.
Once we are home Lexi will need to undergo Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy 5 days a week for 90 minutes at a time.  There is more information on HBO therapy located under the links tab. 

We know there are no guarantees that this will be a success, but we have to try!!  Thank you so much for reading all about our wonderful little girl!!