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THE MAGNIFIER Issue #26, November 18, 2004
Newsletter from the Macular Degeneration Foundation, Inc.
P.O. Box 531313 Henderson, NV 89053
http://www.eyesight.org
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DARE TO DO!
Excerpts
taken from "Jordy Restores Woman's Sight by Tyler Treadway - The Stuart News
In the aftermath of Hurricane Francis, as well as the other hurricanes, there have been many stories of destruction and restoration.
Ruth McClelland had her story published in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel as reported by Tyler Treadway in "The Stuart News."
"Ruth McClelland lost her home and her best friend (her Jordy reading machine) in
Hurricane Frances. McClelland, who has macular degeneration and glaucoma, is legally blind. For the last four years, she's used a Jordy Vision Enhancement System to read. But when Frances blew away the mobile home
where she'd lived for 20 years, it blew away McClelland's Jordy as well. 'I haven't been able to read anything in a month,' McClelland said - not the morning paper, the Bible, or even the letters that have been piling up.'
At the Jupiter Eye Clinic, Dr. Scott Hearing arranged for a new Jordy system to be set up in McClelland's new house. With the help of Vision Enhancement (the Jordy distributor) and private contributions, Dr. Hearing
was able to provide a new reading system for Ruth McClelland.
Ruth McClelland, though legally blind, has been a volunteer at Raulerson Hospital in Okeechobee for the last 19 years. "I've memorized where everything
is," McClelland said. "And I can recognize most of the people by their voice or their body shape or the way they walk."
Ruth also plays bingo. How? She has memorized where the numbers are on all
seven of the cards she's been playing with for the last nine years. The cards were in a cedar chest at McClelland's house when Frances hit. "I just knew they were gone," she said. "But my son pulled
the wall off the chest and pulled them out!"
Ruth McClelland doesn't have time to be depressed or discouraged. Finding her place as a volunteer, discovering how to play bingo with low vision, and continuing to read with
her Jordy reading machine has kept Ruth empowered. The best part of this story is that it can be true for anyone that can and will DARE TO DO!
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Macugen, a Pioneering New Drug for Wet MD
by Philip Filner, Ph. D.
October 24, 2004
Macugen has been in clinical trials for two years to see if it has a desirable effect on people with MD with subfoveal
neovascularization. The fovea is a very small central portion of the macula where the cells responsible for our ability to see color and detail are located. Damage in the foveal area is the cause of the most severe central vision
loss in wet MD.
The two-year results of the clinical trials in which Macugen was injected directly into the eye, was reported on October 22, 2004. It slowed but did not stop loss of visual acuity.
In an effort to
determine how well the benefits of treatment persist after the end of treatment, the treated group was divided into two halves at the end of the first year. One half continued treatment for a second year. The other half did
not receive treatment during the second year. The result was that continuation of treatment during the second year substantially reduced the probability of a major decline in visual acuity, compared to the group that did not
receive treatment during the second year. A major decline was defined as loss of 3 or more lines on an eye chart. While 35 people in the group that was not treated during the second year lost at least 3 lines, only 21 people
in the group whose treatment continued during the second year lost at least 3 lines.
The FDA's review committee gave a favorable review of the results in September, 2004. FDA, which is evaluating macugen under its
fast-track procedure, is expected to approve Macugen for treatment of subfoveal macular degeneration in the near future. It can be expected to be on the market and in ophthalmologists' arsenal in 2005, probably in Europe
first.
Macugen will probably become the standard treatment for wet MD until something better, or a more effective protocol employing Macugen, comes along. We still need a drug or procedure which promotes repair of
damage sufficient to restore some of the lost vision.
Macugen may be the first aptamer-based drug approved by FDA. The aptamer technology constitutes a radically new, extraordinarily powerful way to develop drugs for
virtually any disease. Macugen is therefore a true pioneer drug for the 21st century. Macugen is a product of Eyetech Pharmaceuticals.
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ANTIOXIDANT MAY REVERSE VISION LOSS
The Santa Cruz Sentinel
"It was two decades ago that optometrist Stuart Richer began noticing that patients who suffered from MD and began taking multivitamins seemed to improve
their condition. According to the fall issue of Eating Well, after years of studying the effects of antioxidants on the disease, Richer found that the antioxidant lutein can reverse some of the symptoms of MD. He
studied the effects of lutein in 90 patients and found that those who took 10 milligrams of it each day began to see about one line better on eye charts, while image quality and contrast increased and glare became less of a problem.
Lutein can be found in leafy green vegetables such as spinach, kale and collards, as well as in kiwi, zucchini, pumpkin, egg yolks, corn and red grapes. If you can't incorporate these foods into your diet, an eye
supplement that contains lutein is just as good."
For more information call 800-924-4393 and ask about OPTOTABS, the only eye supplement approved by the Macular Degeneration Foundation.
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MACULAR DEGENERATION
We have questions regarding the references made to the macular degeneration disorder. In many articles the disorder is referred to as ARMD - other
articles have abbreviated it further to AMD. In the Magnifier newsletter, we are referring to the condition simply as MD.
ARMD/AMD stands for Age-Related Macular De-generation. This implies that the condition is
simply a result of aging. Therefore, we have dropped the Age-Related term.
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HEALTHY TIPS
by Liz Trauernicht
To successfully incorporate healthy
foods into our everyday diet, we have to be creative.
Suggestion: Use spinach instead of iceberg lettuce for that nice crisp touch to your salmon salad sandwich. For extra flavor and crunch add a few walnuts to
the mix. Remember the 14 super foods from the March edition of the Magnifier?
Beans, Blueberries, Broccoli, Oats, Oranges, Pumpkin, Soy Salmon, Spinach, Tea, Yogurt Tomatoes, Turkey and
Walnuts
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CONTACTING MDF
To speak to a support representative directly, you may call 1-888-633-3937. If you reach our voice mail, please speak slowly and distinctly.
ORDERING BOOKS & TAPES
When purchasing items from Amazon.com, please remember to use the MDF search box located at http://www.eyesight.org/Books/books.html . By simply originating your search from our website,
Amazon rewards the Foundation with a small commission from each product you order. Thank you.
MAKING CONTRIBUTIONS:
Please make checks payable to Macular Degeneration Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box 531313, Henderson,
Nevada 89053, or you may use your credit card on our web site http://www.eyesight.org/Donations/donations.html . Your contributions make our services available as a support system for macular degeneration patients in the
following ways:
1. We provide toll-free lines for personal contact assistance.
2. We mail brochures and other printed materials upon request.
3. We support an award-winning web site that provides the latest up-to-date
information.
4. We fund research proposal grants to provide therapies for both the wet and dry form of AMD. Contributions marked "research" are used 100% for research.
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PRODUCTS FOR LOW VISION
To order the eye supplement that is endorsed by the Macular Degeneration Foundation, OPTOTABS, visit http://www.optogon.com. This site also provides low-vision products that have given many
victims of vision loss the ability to read important documents. Call this toll-free number for more information 800-924-4393. A percent of the proceeds from the sale of these items is invested into Macular Degeneration
Research.
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MDF was founded in 1992 by Edmund J. Aleksandrovich Ph.D (a victim of macular degeneration). It provides MD patients and their families with the information
necessary to understand the disease, the latest news concerning ways to cope with the disease, and supports the efforts of researchers to find a cure.
Subscribers who wish to cancel their subscription or change their email
address may visit: http://www.eyesight.org/Newsletter/newsletter.html .
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