My biggest fear is Alicia will die before science catches up.  I believe science is catching up.  

I also pray she will one day also be able to see again.

UCSD received a donation of $50 million to the Shiley Eye Institute from Andrew Viterbi to restore patients vision to even people who are completely blind. 

Here’s a quote from the San Diego Union Tribune in August of 2018:

"Dr Robert Weinreb, head of the Shiley Eye Institute, said it's not too crazy to think that Viterbi's gift could play a significant role in helping find the path forward for successful transplanting the stem cell-derived optic nerve and retina cells that UCSD researchers are already able to grow in the lab.”

This was always my hope that Alicia will just wake up after a magical wondrous dream with her boyfriend by her side. 10 years later there is a chance she will come back to us. I’m sure it won’t be as if nothing ever happened, but a little closer to her old life. We are currently crossing the bridge to making this a reality. Alicia has been approved for DBS by four neurologists. I have finally wore the doctor’s down. The only glitch is finding a/or neurosurgeon(s) confident in themselves to handle Alicia’s challenging case and willing to deal with a mom, that expects nothing less than 100%.

This is now my new favorite quote, taken from an unknown source. It is my new analogy of how the brain works.

“The mystery of wood is not that it burns but it floats”

Once lost in a forest, Alicia’s brain awakens and the pathways of neurons float forward and the healing begins.