In the Wilson Family, Love and Support Run Both Ways

When Elizabeth Wilson Baker was growing up, doctors knew something wasn't quite right with her eyesight. Her vision was not all that bad - about 20/40 or 20/50 - but glasses couldn't correct it.

"This went on for years. They even had me doing eye exercises," says Elizabeth. "Finally, when I was about 15, an ophthalmologist saw some abnormalities in my retina. They sent me to Emory where I was diagnosed with Stargardt disease."

During her first year of college, her vision declined significantly. Elizabeth quickly made adjustments. She says, "I learned to use my hearing a lot more. I wrote down everything the professor was saying. I think I learned more than other people who were writing down everything on the overhead screen. I didn't have to go back to my notes before exams, because I had to comprehend what the teacher was saying in class to get it down on paper."

At the same time Elizabeth was busy learning to cope with vision loss, her father, Jack, got aggressive about helping find a cure for it. He began volunteering for the Atlanta Chapter of the Foundation Fighting Blindness in 1999 and became Chapter President in 2002. In 2004, he became a National Trustee of the Foundation.

In addition to working to eradicate the disease that was robbing his daughter's vision, Jack made many friends through the Foundation. "He met so many wonderful people, it became an important part of his life," says Elizabeth.

But in 2006, Jack became faced with his own formidable health challenge; he was diagnosed with leukemia. Fortunately, he is responding well to medication, and his prognosis is hopeful.

Because her father had done so much to support Stargardt disease research for Elizabeth, she decided it was only fitting that she do what she could to help find a cure for the condition that was afflicting her father. She signed up for the 2007 Country Music Marathon - a grueling 26.2 mile running race in Nashville - to raise money for leukemia research. She ran the race well and brought in $4,300.

"He would have preferred that I raise the money for FFB," Elizabeth says, "But he's always done things for me and this was my way of giving back to him. He and my mom support me so much. They are wonderful people."

Despite vision loss, Elizabeth is very active. Married in August 2005, she and her husband, Brian, had a baby boy, Andrew, in September 2006. In addition to being a wife and mother, Elizabeth works as a physical therapist.

She also follows the Foundation-funded research very closely. "The progress has been amazing," she says. "The number of clinical trials underway is remarkable."

Both Elizabeth and her father are excited about the prospects for an emerging gene therapy to treat Stargardt disease. The Foundation is collaborating with the biopharmaceutical company Oxford bioMedica to begin a clinical trial of the promising treatment in 2008.