May 22, 2007: Premier Electric donates $1,000,000 to the University of Florida to fund a new research program to use umbilical cord stem cells to cure blindness in children and adults and establish the new "Taylor Forbis Clinic for Optic Nerve Hypoplasia" at the University of Florida Shands Hospital, named after Robert Forbis' 11 month old grandson who was born with ONH.
The clinic is specifically set up to treat patients with all of the complications that occur with optic nerve hypoplasia and septo optic dysplasia.
This disease has recently become the leading cause of blindness in newborns, and no one knows why. Up until now it has been considered an incurable disease. The research program will focus on bringing a new procedure to the US, that was first used in China in July of 2007, that uses umbilical cord stem cells injected into the spinal cord. The injected stem cells somehow are attracted to the atrophied optic nerves, and begin to repair them.
The first child to have this procedure done
was a six year old from Missouri named Rylea
Barlett. After being totally blind for all of
her 6 years of life, Rylea was able to see a
pen light only 7 days after her first stem cell
injection last July. Now, 10 months later she
can see with 20/800 vision and wears glasses.
So far her vision has been doubling every time
she is checked by her doctor, all a direct result
of the stem cells she received in China. This
is the first time in the history of man that
a blind person with this disease has had their
vision restored, to any degree, after being
totally blind for the first 6 years. This new
procedure has never been tried in the US, and
until now, no researchers have even tried to
duplicate it and get it approved here in the
US.
This gift from Premier Electric will pay for
the research needed to get this procedure FDA
approved. Once approved, it will also lead to
its widespread use around the world and hopefully
become the cure for the 5 million people worldwide
who have the disease.
Articles :
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2008/may/22/uf-receives-1m-research-thanks-naples-couple/
http://www.alligator.org/articles/2008/05/27/news/campus/080527_forbis.txt
http://news.medinfo.ufl.edu/?p=296
http://www.alligator.org/articles/2008/05/27/news/campus/080527_forbis.txt
http://www.floridaweekly.com/news/2008/0604/health/020.html
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2008/may/22/uf-receives-1m-research-thanks-naples-couple/
Click here to see the check presentation.
2006: Premier Electric donates $40,000 worth of wiring for a new home for a displaced family in Tampa as part of ABC's Extreme Home Makeover Home Edition.
2006: Premier Electric owner Robert Forbis pilots his Citation jet to pick up Special Olympic Athletes from Alaska and take them to to and from the United States Summer Games in Aimes, Iowa as part of the Cessna Citation Special Olympics Airlift. < View Photo >
2006: Premier Electric donates $19,000 worth of wiring for a grand new entrance and scoreboard at the Ft. Myers High School football field.
2006: Premier Electric donates $10,000 to support the Liberty Youth Ranch home for children.
2005: Premier Electric donates
wiring to remodel a hurricane damaged home of
a physically challenged man in Pine Island Florida
as part of the "Builders Care" program
in Lee County.
2005: Premier Electric donates
$10,000 to the Salvation Army to be
used for Hurricane Katrina victims.
2005: Premier Electric donates
kits of electrical material to wire new homes
in Mississippi that are being built for free
by a group of Mennonites to provide housing
for Hurricane Katrina victims.
2002: Premier Electric donates
wiring for 3 Habitat for Humanity homes in Collier
County.
1998: Premier Electric donates
wiring for 2 Habitat for Humanity Homes in Collier
County.
1997: Premier Electric wires
new library building at cost for the Community
School of Naples.
1996: Premier Electric wires
new middle school building at cost for the Community
School of Naples.
1992: Premier Electric donates
wiring for eight classrooms at the Community
School of Naples.
In addition to the above, over the last 20 years
Premier Electric has also donated to many charitable
causes too numerous to list, but here are a
some of our favorites. The Boys and Girls Club,
Hillmyer-Tremont Student Athlete Scholarship
Foundation, Special Olympics, Disabled Firefighters,
Marine Toys for Tots, Leukemia and Lymphoma
Society, Baron Collier Football Cheerleaders,
Boys Scouts of America, Cancer Alliance, Lely
High School Athletic Fund, Florida Sheriff's
Youth Ranch, American Red Cross, and Sam Sirainni
Memorial at Ft. Myers High School.
