'Giant Eye Symbolizing Research Hope Is Visited by Small Birth Defects Victim The lights dim, and ir the darkened high-ceilingec room a somber-faced little boy stares at the pilot lighl of a towering microscope. This is the electron microscope micro-scope at Ohio State University Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, a giant inquiring eye nine feet tall, capable of magnifying the human cell 100,000 times. The small boy with the rather sad little face is Kevin Sharp, 3& years, of Grove City, Ohio, who wanted to see a jumbo-sized version of the toy microscope given him on his last birthday by his doctor! Kevin has to see his doctor regularly because he is a victim vic-tim of spina bifida, or open spine. He is paralyzed from the waist down and cannot play ball or indeed play much at anything. Such mobility as he has is made possible by his crutches and leg braces. Kevin's is one of the significant signifi-cant birth defects the cause of which is being pursued today by The National Foundation with New March of Dimes contributions. con-tributions. Congenital malfor-. malfor-. mations afflict 250,000 infants annually in the United States and are responsible for the deaths of 34,000 babies each year who are stillborn or die , within four weeks of birth. The health organization's expanded ex-panded program -also includes arthritis and continued work in polio. mmm Mini I. mwawwp iwwik iMi,.i ir raftriwwvaefiflflaflw.-.vw. v rrrar-iv rftiVTfrcriWffr ffwi T"1 Kevin Sharp, 3Vi years, of Grove City, Ohio, victim of birth defect of an open spine, stands before huge nine-foot electron elec-tron microscope at Ohio State University Hospital, Columbus. Instrument is used in March of Dimes-supported research into congenital malformations. In his excitement while reaching for the eyepiece of the vast instrument, Kevin probably didn't know that in the ultra-powerful lens of such electron microscopes, scientists hope some day to pinpoint the cause of the savage embryonic mishap that crippled him before be-fore he was born. By comparing compar-ing normal and abnormal cells under tremendous magnification, magnifica-tion, researchers hope to discover, dis-cover, for example, why Kevin's Kev-in's spine never fused during his mother's pregnancy, or why some other little boy or girl is born with excess fluid on the brain another baffling birth defect which The National Foundation is studying. "At his birth, doctors gave Kevin only a few hours to live," says Mrs. Gerald Sharp, his mother. "In addition to his open spine, he had two clubfeet club-feet which are now much improved im-proved due to surgery and physical therapy. He is a brave and happy little fellow even if he smiles so rarely. My husband' hus-band' and I thank God that today wider research is being done into birth defects." She adds somewhat wistfully: wist-fully: "My husband Gerald and I met in an orphanage in Xenia, Ohio. We became childhood sweethearts. Like other young people, we longed to raise a family, and a healthy one. "Why should this unaccountable unaccount-able accident have happened to us? But we count our blessings. bless-ings. Perhaps fewer Kevins will be born to the next generation. gen-eration. We certainly pray so." The lights return and, supported sup-ported by his crutches and braces, solemn little Kevin struggles back from the microscope. micro-scope. But at that moment, looking up at his mother, there's the suggestion of a smile around the corners of his mouth.