Corey Haas, a little boy in my home church, is legally blind. Corey was diagnosed with Lebers Congenital Amerosis, a deteriorating genetic eye defect, a few years ago. Only 200-300 people in the United States have this disorder. He took part in an experimental eye surgery procedure last year in which healthy genes (ocular) were transplanted into the retina of his left eye, which was his worst eye. The goal of this surgery was to improve his eyesight with the integration of these new genes.
The procedure has had positive results and Corey’s eyesight is greatly improving. At the time of his surgery, Corey was the youngest person in the world to have this procedure done. Corey, his mother, his dad, and the doctor who performed the surgery, Dr. Bennett, were interviewed by a group of journalist from the major news networks (CNN, CNBC etc…….) in Philadelphia today (October 22, 2009). This interview will air sometime Saturday afternoon / Saturday evening on a number of “news type” networks.
Corey and his family will then go to NYC on Saturday to be part of Sunday’s ABC Good Morning America show (October 25,2009). Dr. Bennett will be unable to be part of the Good Morning America interview because she will be presenting “Corey ‘s Case” at a Medical Conference in San Francisco over the weekend. This medical breakthrough that Corey was part of is being compared to that of the first heart transplant and will be featured in an issue of Lancet Medical Journal. Hopefully you will be able to tune in and see Corey as he makes his television debut!
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