Christine McDonald, a student at MCC - Penn Valley, has truly lived an unconventional life. After struggling with addiction since 1988, McDonald ran away from her hometown Oklahoma City in 1992, and hitched a ride to Kansas City.
The next 17 years, McDonald was a crack addict. She was homeless, having to sleep in parks, alleyways, abandoned cars, or wherever she could find the slightest bit of warmth. In and out of prison six times, and turning tricks to feed her habits during that seventeen year span, she finally decided she wanted more for herself and for her life.
With no high school diploma and no resources available to her, six-time convicted felon McDonald set about trying to pull herself up from rock bottom.
After many attempts to clean up her life, McDonald finally found work. It was at this time she met a man and became pregnant. The two moved into an apartment together, and life was bliss for McDonald.
But in a twisted turn of events, toward the end of her pregnancy McDonald lost her vision due to Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada Syndrome (VKH). VKH is a very rare immunity-mediated disease which attacks the middle layer of the eye, and is characterized by uveitis, an inflammation. Eventually her right eye had to be removed.
 Christine McDonald |
Filled with anxiety, yet trying to deal with her blindness and be a good mother to her child, McDonald became agoraphobic and spent most of her time in the beginning at home, taking care of Ricky.
"Here I was with this little baby, and blind and I was scared to leave my house," said McDonald. “It was scary; I didn’t think I could do it. I used to cry about it all the time. It was like, 'Oh my God, I can’t raise this little person!'"
From the time Ricky was born, McDonald focused all her attention on being the best mother she could. She refused to let her vision loss discourage her.
McDonald admits that on rare occasions, when Ricky was very young, she would lose him from time to time; and when she tried to teach Ricky to walk, both of them did a lot of running into things. She says she has been blessed to have some good support within her community.
“I’m a single, blind mom and I’ve only lost him a few times and put food in his ear once,” McDonald says with a laugh.
The Kansas City Star heard of McDonald’s story and published an article about her in their October 29, 2006 issue. The article triggered an unexpected, anonymous $3000 donation to help with medical expenses from an attempt to restore vision in her left eye at the Barnes Retina Institute in St. Louis.
This was McDonald’s first glimpse of hope that she might one day have her vision partially restored and be able to see her son for the first time. However the attempts failed, and McDonald was again left wondering if she might ever see again.
Very recently, McDonald received word that she would have the opportunity to go to China for a promising new procedure. The Shen Zhen Beike Biotechnology Company, Limited: Tomorrow’s Treatments Today is willing to provide her with biological components needed for her possibly to see again. An institute in Switzerland is also a possible destination.
Umbilical (not embryonic) stem cells would be placed in her spinal fluid. (See our story about stem cell research in this issue.) If the process works, it could cause some of the nerve damage in her eye to be repaired, which could then result in McDonald’s eye remembering how to start producing fluid again. This would complete two of three steps McDonald needs in order to see.
"If that happens then I would come back here to the states and they would replace the lens over my iris," McDonald said.
Being able to afford this surgery might mean she will one day see her son. "I want to be a good mom, I want to be a full mom, a complete mom.... I want to be able to play [with Ricky]... I hear him giggle and run through the house, and I want to see it," said McDonald.
However, expenses are McDonald’s main hurdle. The complete cost of everything, including flight, surgery, hospital stay, and other expenses would be around $112,000.
McDonald is hoping for donations, but with so much controversy surrounding stem cell research in the United States, she knows this will likely prove very difficult.
"I don’t have an official date, because I actually have to have the funds available to go to China. You have to prepay for your stem cells," McDonald said with a smile.
The opportunity is guaranteed so there is no specific time limit, but McDonald would like to find a way to acquire the money as soon as possible. When she is finally able to pay for her surgery and make it to China, she will spend a total of about five and a half weeks in recovery. Her son would stay in the care of his father during that time.
To help with funding, McDonald sells children’s educational books with Usborne books. She has a website called Christineseducationalbooks.com. The Kansas City Star is also working on another story to explain McDonald’s current opportunity and situation.
"I had a place that had talked to me about donating a large amount of the money, but Friday evening (November 2) they backed out, because there were a couple members on the board that disagreed," said McDonald.
One way or another, McDonald is certain she will have the surgery. Meantime, she will continue her education, work toward accomplishing her career goals and, of course, provide everything she possibly can for her son.
McDonald hopes to get certified to work with addiction and mental health issues in the homeless community. She wants to offer guidance and resources to anyone struggling to get back on their feet and make a life for themselves. She already reaches out by helping to feed the homeless. She says it has been her own life experiences which have provided her with the passion and drive to help people and move forward.
Blindness has made McDonald stronger, more compassionate, empathetic, and humble. It has taught her humility and responsibility. Amazingly, McDonald sees her vision loss as a blessing for all it has taught her.
Copyright 2007 Metropolitan Community College