After getting into a car accident in eighth grade, Texas native Trelle Dandridge developed Optic Nerve Atrophy (ONA), which caused her vision to deteriorate over several years to the point where she had to resign from her dream job.
ONA is a mild to severe damage to the optic nerve that can adversely affect central vision, peripheral vision, and color vision.
In Trelle’s case, she suffered head trauma in the car accident and shortly after experienced a strange sensation. “[I] noticed my head felt very, very large, abnormally large. My mom and sister who were also in the car accident said it looked fine, other than some cuts from glass.” Her mother, a nurse, monitored her and all seemed fine until she realized that Trelle hadn’t noticed her walking away at a grocery store. This caused concern and Trelle promptly underwent visual field exams and many other exams for the next five to six years. Those included spinal taps, MRI’s, CT scans, EEG’s, genetic testing at John Hopkins, steroid treatments, and countless other tests. While this gave her insight into her ONA condition, there was a resounding consensus that not much could be done.
Trelle started to look for a treatment
Her vision loss caused by ONA was not sudden, but progressed over time. “I first began losing my vision peripherally. This was a very slow and gradual process. I was still able to participate normally in sports and classes in high school. After high school, when I graduated, I had my first central vision loss.” This progression continued over about 10 years until she “lost it all” and was completely blind. This is when Trelle started her research into stem cell treatment for ONA.
Optic nerve tissue was growing back
Since 2013, Trelle has made two trips overseas for Beike adult stem cell therapy protocols, once to China and more recently to Better Being Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand. The result was an improvement in her visual acuity, from being able to see nothing to being able to detect light. She also visited a neuro-opthamologist who measured the growth of her optic nerves before and after her first stem cell treatment, and was able to measure optic nerve tissue growth in both of her optic nerves.
“I’m actually having more light perception and I have, in certain lighting situations, been able to see some silhouettes of people,” Trelle said. “That’s huge for me.”
VIDEO: Trelle Dandridge | Stem Cell Treatment Testimonial
Functional medicine and Stem Cells changed her life
Upon returning home from Thailand she shared a few instances of these improvements. While sitting at dinner she was able to notice the distinct difference between the sun setting and the lights in the restaurant coming on. Shortly after this she was at lunch with a client and could not help but interrupt the conversation because of a noticeably bright light that she saw to the left and behind the client. Trelle asked if there were lights on. Her client responded, “Yes”, and then waved her hand in front of Trelle who instinctively grabbed it because she could see the silhouette it created.
These results are due to the nearly 500 million adult umbilical cord blood stem cells (UCBSCs) provided by Beike Biotechnology which Trelle received by lumbar puncture and intravenous injection. In combination with this, Trelle was also on a strict functional medicine program to work on both maintaining a healthy environment for the stem cells, and to utilize occupational therapy to develop her improved light and color perception.
While her quest for vision is not over, Trelle is thrilled with the results so far and is hoping to visit again within the next year for her third round.