Lila needs a sibling!

As many of you know, I have finally been accepted into Optometry school at Indiana University! We are very happy and excited for our new adventure, but that is for a different post.

For the past 2 years, I have been fortunate to work at Sugarhouse Vision clinic where I have learned all there is to know about the world of optometry. I have been able to work closely with the doctors to help me get a good feel for the profession but the person that has pretty much taught me everything I know is my office manager, Quinn. I can honestly say that any success I have in the first few months of school will be thanks to him and all that he has taught me. Also, down the road after graduation when I operate my own clinic, I will be able to utilize many important skills and lessons that he taught me as well. (He doesn't know our blog address, so don't think that I'm writing this to suck up)

Shortly after I started at Sugarhouse Vision, Quinn and his wife Kristi were blessed to have a little baby girl, Lila. Unfortunately from day 1, she had many complications and obvious special needs. This caught them completely off guard as there were no indications that there was anything wrong with her during development. It seemed that every week, they discovered something else wrong with Lila- cataracts, missing corpus callosum, hypotonia, seizures, and constant infections. Over the course of about a year, they were given a few different diagnosis and sent to various specialists. But it wasn't until Kristi google-searched all of Lila's conditions and came across a condition called Vici Syndrome. This is such a rare condition that none of the doctors even knew what it was but decided to look into it. After having their neurologist read some studies about VS, he was able to confidently and correctly diagnose Lila as the 20th documented case in the world. Although this was a relief to finally know what they were working with, it was also a death sentence for Lila as the average age of kids with VS is about 2-4 years.

Fast forward to today and because of Lila, the amount of VS research has more than doubled. Geneticists in England were able to use Lila's DNA to exactly locate the genes responsible for her condition as well as shed light on other fundamental complications of the disease. Most importantly for Quinn and Kristi though, because of Lila, families effected by VS are now able to have healthy children of their own through In Vitro. Thanks to research performed on her DNA, geneticists are able to identify which eggs carry the recessive gene and exclude those from the fertilized pool.

That brings me to the point of this post. Despite the mountain of medical bills that have incurred over Lila's lifetime, Quinn and Kristi feel it is time to move ahead with their family and perform In Vitro. In an effort to lessen the blow of the cost that awaits them, I have set up an online fundraiser in their behalf. In all honesty, I feel that this is the least I can do for Quinn to repay him for all he has done for me the past 2 years.

I'm not posting this in an effort to pander for donations, but to get the word out about. I mean, if you'd like to donate, great- but if you can't please talk to people about this cause and try to spread the word!