McLaughlin began stem cell treatments in 2002 using cells from umbilical cords. No embryonic stem cells are used.

After a year, his strengthened eye was then prepared for surgery. He underwent his first cornea transplant in June 2003.

He went from not being able to read the morning of the surgery to reading a magazine for the first time in 20 years that afternoon.

McLaughlin’s eyes were originally damaged from an allergic reaction to an antibiotic drug as a child. The condition, called Stevens-Johnson syndrome, caused the destruction of mucus membranes throughout his body, including the outer layer of his eyes.

The disease gradually took his eyesight. His right eye was then removed in 1983 after a failed cornea transplant.

By 1988, at age 31, McLaughlin was legally blind in his left eye.

McLaughlin urges victims of similar problems to contact their ophthalmologist to determine their potential candidacy for stem cell therapy.

Though he doesn’t support the controversial embryonic stem cell research, he would like more attention for umbilical cord stem cell research.

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