Colts Neck Man with Rare Condition
Finds Treatment in His Own Backyard
BY SHANNA O’MARA
The morning after his 21st birthday, he woke up with blurred eyesight. By
mid-day, he couldn’t drive. No matter how hard he blinked and refocused,
everything was cloudy. But it was his fading vision that sparked an idea.
Meet Colts Neck’s Ray DeRosa.
DeRosa woke up after a celebratory night to nd that his eyesight was
impaired – and getting worse by the hour. He soon thought of his mother
and her diagnosis years before. She has Leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy, a
mother-to-child inherited degenerative eye condition, so he knew there was a
chance he had it too. Seeking an option for treatment, he turned to his family
and his roots.
“We were those weird hippies growing up. We ate quinoa before anyone
could pronounce it,” DeRosa laughed. “And my mom made dandelion tea for
us when we were sick. The Greeks use it as a medicinal plant.”
Growing up Greek, DeRosa knew the power of natural home remedies.
His mother picked dandelions from the family’s backyard in Colts Neck
and brewed tea with the ower when she or her children fell ill. She began
drinking the tea regularly when she learned she had Leber’s hereditary optic
neuropathy 15 years ago and advised her son to do the same when he
received the same diagnosis.
“The doctors were shocked,” DeRosa said of when he told them his vision
was returning after just a few days of drinking his mom’s elixir. “There
is no known cure for Leber’s. They saw that the tea was working for me, so
they said, ‘Drink it every day for the next 18 months.’”
He also practices a healthy lifestyle to keep the condition at bay.
“Stress triggers this condition,” he said. “As an entrepreneur, that’s
unavoidable. But now I focus on my lifestyle. I meditate and practice mindfulness.”
DeRosa and his mother, Vicky, also drink dandelion tea daily to prevent
the condition from worsening. Vicky, now legally blind, has vision
that returned to about 80 percent of its quality before she was diagnosed.
26 APRIL 2020 | TheJournalNJ.com
DeRosa’s condition
was caught early, so he
said his vision is now back
to 20/20.
“The dandelion is
a medicinal super plant,
and it’s recognized by every
other country but the
U.S.,” DeRosa said. “It’s the
rst thing bees eat in the
spring. It’s the rst thing
that grows after a wildre.
It was even brought over
on the Mayower because
of its vitamin C capacity.
They used to use it to combat
scurvy.”
Now people use it as
a digestive aid and a daily
detox. DeRosa began brewing
his own tea in various
avors and bottling it for
consumers. LION Tea, now
available for purchase online,
combines the whole
plant with real fruit and a
teaspoon of organic honey.
Dandelions have
been reported to increase
energy, boost immunity,
improve skin clarity, shed excess water weight, improve regularity, eliminate
bloating, curb appetite, and reduce cholesterol, blood pressure and blood
sugar.
LION Tea is USDA-certied organic and available in six avors: blood
orange ginger, blueberry hibiscus, strawberry lavender, blackberry rose, original
dandy and lemon elderower. Every bottle is made of recyclable glass with
a recycled paper label.
“Part of our mission is to show that plants are medicine,” DeRosa said.
“That pesky weed in your backyard is actually a medicinal super plant, and it
has been under your nose the whole time.”
For more information about DeRosa and LION Tea, visit LionTea.com.
NEIGHBOR
— to —
NEIGHBOR
1. Ray DeRosa grew up on
Montrose Road in Colts
Neck and attended
Conover Road Elementary
School, Cedar Drive
Middle School and Colts
Neck High School.
2. Onset of Leber’s
hereditary optic
neuropathy is usually
seen in young adulthood
and is more common
among men than women.
the condition onto their
children.
3. Half a cup of dandelion
greens reportedly has
more calcium than a glass
of milk. The plant also
contains vitamins A, B, C,
E and K.
Ray DeRosa and his mother, Vicky
/TheJournalNJ.com
/LionTea.com