Child Will Lose Sight In Five To Seven Years, Doctors Say

A five-year-old girl diagnosed with a disease that will rob her of her sight and hearing in five to seven years will have a chance to see Rome, thanks to Turkish Airlines.

Elizabeth "Lizzy" Myers, who lives with her parents Steve and Christine and a younger sister north of Columbus, OH, has been diagnosed with Usher Syndrome Type II. The progressive disease will eventually cause the child to become blind and deaf.

Her parents are working to take Lizzy to as many places so that she can see as many things as she can before that happens, and the Italian Catholic family had hoped to take her to Rome, see the classic art and architecture, and hopefully visit the place her mother's family is from south of the city.

As her story spread, initially through the local newspaper the Mansfield News Journal, the family began to receive offers of money and other help from around the world. While Steve Myers said it made him uncomfortable, the family could not pass up the offer from Turkish Airlines to fly them to Rome so that Lizzy could have that experience. Fox News reports that Turkish Airlines' general manager Tuncay Eminoglu said it was about "helping a little girl who may never have the chance to see the world."

The family plans to travel to Rome courtesy of Turkish Airlines sometime next spring.

FMI: www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/pages/usher.aspx