Posted on 02/13/2008 10:59:53 AM PST by LibWhacker
Former Cork club hurler Jimmy Aherne wept when he was told he would be blind within three years.
The father-of-four -- who is a second cousin to hurling legend Christy Ring -- was diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
The condition is cruel, as it has traditionally been untreatable. For decades, thousands of pensioners who lost their sight were simply told they had "old people's blindness" and that nothing could be done for them.
But today, almost 12 months after that shocking diagnosis, the deterioration in Jimmy's eyesight has been halted and his good eye has improved to the point where he has no difficulty driving, watching his beloved GAA sports, or gardening.
"I hurled all my life. I loved being outdoors -- so how could you cope with losing the beauty of the world? How do you cope with knowing what you are going to lose with your sight. All I could do after hearing I was going blind was to go out to my car and cry," he added.
Jimmy's remarkable improvement is due to a revolutionary new treatment which, for the first time, provides a dietary supplement containing the three key ingredients that make up macular pigment at the back of the human eye.
The deterioration in this pigment -- made up of lutein, zeaxanthin and meso-zeaxanthin (MZ) -- has long been suspected to be a key factor in the onset of AMD.
What is unique about the new MacuShield supplement is that it contains MZ, which people suffering from AMD may lack in their pigment.
Incredibly, Jimmy only enquired about the supplement after a neighbour told him about its benefits after watching a TV programme.
Marketed by Johnson Brothers and West Midland Optical, the new supplement was just undergoing studies at Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT), where Dr John Nolan is one of Europe's leading experts on AMD.
Jimmy immediately contacted the Tipperary academic directly and pleaded for help -- and the WIT official agreed that he could try a course of the revolutionary new supplement.
Within two months, the first signs were detected that the deterioration in Jimmy's eyesight had slowed, almost to a stop. Within six months, his eye pigment had shown remarkable signs of improvement and, in tests last week, nine months after beginning the treatment, his eye continues to show signs of strong improvement.
The Cloyne man's response has stunned both opticians and researchers alike -- and Dr Nolan is now determined that the message about the importance of diet has to be hammered home.
"This has been a terrible disease for people -- and there is now hope that we can do something about it," he said.
AMD effectively attacks the central portion of a person's vision -- leaving them largely reliant on peripheral images. A person with advanced AMD cannot read, drive a car, watch TV or even fully see the faces of loved ones.
Jimmy's own optician, Helen Flanagan, was also astounded by his response to the treatment.
In the developed world, 50pc of all adult blindness is caused by AMD -- more than three times that caused by glaucoma (18per cent). Diabetes, in contrast, accounts for only 17 per cent of blindness.
In Ireland, 80,000 people have AMD-related blindness, costing the State an estimated €133m each year.
For Jimmy, the transformation has been as remarkable as it has been unexpected.
"It's been fantastic -- I feel great and I don't know where I'd be today if I hadn't contacted WIT," he said.
For MacuShield's developers, remarkable case studies such as that of Jimmy, have been matched by the emergence of a new machine which, for the first time, has made screening for AMD commercially viable for opticians.
"Every time you change your glasses, an optician will screen you for glaucoma. But AMD is responsible for a far greater level of blindness. We're hoping that early detection and the recognition that dietary supplements can help will go a long way to offering people hope," Johnson Brothers' Pat Buckley declared.
Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) are currently preparing another major research project on AMD and are looking for volunteers. Anyone interested in taking part or with general queries about AMD can contact Leighanne Maddock at (051) 845505 or www.wit.ie/mprg. Anyone with queries about AMD dietary supplements should contact Johnson brothers at (01) 4081400.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/gaa/article3421573.ece
marking
thanks, bfl
http://www.douglaslabs.com/product.cfm?litm=85014-180X
Supposedly, there are eye drops from Russia that dissolves cataracts. No need to have surgery. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_pwwi/is_200402/ai_mark2276828555
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