Another "Coincidence"

I know I have a bunch of photos to post, and hopefully soon I'll actually have time to make that happen. However, I just had to share about another "coincidence" that recently occurred. (If you remember, I earlier defined a "coincidence" as "when God works a miracle and decides to remain anonymous.")

This spring, I was put in touch with an adult woman who has aniridia. We've been "talking" via email some, and one of the things she recommended was to get involved with Aniridia Foundation International. They are a "non-profit charitable organization dedicated to assisting those with low vision or blindness due to the genetic blinding eye disease Aniridia. Our members consist of those with aniridia, their families, physicians, researchers, and teachers". Figuring it couldn't hurt, I signed us up to be members.

Earlier this spring, I had heard that they have are having a conference in Chicago about aniridia this summer. I had dismissed it out of hand, since children aren't allowed in any of the meetings. I figured we'd wait until someday when Elli is eating better and is a little older, so it would be easier to leave her at someone else's house while we attend the conference. I hadn't really given it another thought...until this week.

I received AFI's spring newsletter, in which they describe all the events for the conference. Turns out that one of the major events of the conference is collections for a "DNA registry", where they collect DNA from anybody with aniridia and their immediate blood relatives, so that they can do research on that DNA and learn as much as possible about the genetic cause. The newsletter said that any medical information gleaned from the research would be sent to the person with aniridia (or their parents, if a minor), so this would be a "way to get expensive DNA testing done for free. This alone is worth the cost of the conference to many people."

Hmmm....that got me thinking. Our specialists are all telling us that we really need DNA testing done on Elli, but our insurance company has denied us. Although I haven't been told how much the testing costs, I understand from others that it can be upwards of $5000 or more.

Soooo.....I looked a little further into the conference. Turns out that it's held at a Hilton outside of Chicago. (So we could drive there.) As some of you know, we collect all kinds of hotel points...and the chain that we have the most points saved up for is....the Hilton Hhonors program. For kicks and grins, I checked to see if we could reserve rooms for this conference using our points, and sure enough, we had more than enough points to get the 4 nights of the conference free.

All we have to do is pay the ~$400 that it costs to register Doug, myself, and Elli for the conference, and it sounds like the DNA testing will be taken care of. $400 is a whole lot less than $5000+. And we get to attend a bunch of informative seminars about aniridia, it's causes, it's treatments, low vision technology that's available, etc., not to mention the opportunity to meet others with the same condition. It was starting to feel like a no-brainer. :-)

The only other issue then was how to take care of Elli during the meetings. So, I talked to my parents, and they graciously agreed to come to Chicago with us and play with Elli during the day while we attend the conference meetings. So, I know she'll be in great hands while we're there.

Needless to say, we're now registered to attend the conference.

God is good. :-)