Source: Breaking News

In a story as sweet as the drinks she is peddling, each cup 8-year-old Brianna Bermudez sells from her lemonade stand goes to raise money for her brother’s stem cell treatment in a Beike Biotechnology partnered hospital in China.

“I just made it for him because he needed an operation,” Bermudez said.
 
Bermudez’s brother, 8-month-old Bryce Mastrototaro, has Optic Nerve Hypoplasia (ONH) and is currently rendered legally blind as his condition results in an underdeveloped optic nerve which interferes with transmission of visual signals to his brain.

The stem cell therapy Bermudez and her family seek to raise money for has been performed successfully in China but is currently unavailable in the United States because the current regulatory structure there treats many forms of adult stem cells as a drug while in the China it is seen as a clinical procedure which is regulated closely but does not require the hundreds of millions of dollars to bring it to market. 
 
“He’s not had a good road,” Michelle Mastrototaro, mother of Bryce and Brianna, said. “He’s a happy baby, he’s a pleasure. He listens for you because he can’t see you and then you touch him and he gets so happy.”

Bryce’s grandmother, Debbie Semis, has also remained vigilant in the search for a cure as she scours the internet, using sites like stemcellschina.com to collect information and connect with others who have undergone stem cell procedures in China.

“God opens avenues,” Semis said. “I’m always researching because I know there’s an answer.”

Hospitals partnered with Beike Biotechnology have made use of umbilical cord blood stem cells to combat ONH and restore vision to levels allowing patients to drive a car and live normal, sight-enriched lives. It is important to note that here that just like with all medical procedures, different levels of improvements are reported by the patients but treatemnts for many ONH patients have been dramatic and reported widely in the press.

While the lemonade stand venture rolls on, the family is also pursuing a variety of fundraising options with hopes of making the trip overseas as soon as possible.

Read more about Bryce’s story at

www2.tbo.com/content/2009/may/30/girl-restoring-brothers-sight-1-cup-time/news-breaking/