Boy Born with Scarred Cornea Can See Beautifully Thanks to Cornea Donor

Eye injuries are a constant concern for children and adults who participate in sports. But for a young Illinois resident, the threat of blindness loomed long before he ever took to the field.

Anthony was born with compromised vision due to a scarred cornea, an injury that prevents light from passing through the pupil. As he grew older, his eyesight worsened until his vision was less than 20 percent. Anthony had become an avid soccer player and fan despite his near-blinding eye ailment, but the game was becoming difficult for him to play with such poor eyesight.

When Anthony’s vision became a threat to his safety, he underwent two corneal transplant surgeries to restore his vision. Following the operation, Anthony was reluctant to open his eyes.

“He wouldn’t open either eye because he thought he was blind,” said Anthony’s mom, Tobey. “The only way we could get him to do it was to turn on the TV to the World Cup.”

After being nearly blind for the first six years of his life, Anthony could finally see the world around him, thanks to the generosity of his cornea donor and his skilled medical team.

Anthony is now a teenager preparing to start high school and is taking full advantage of his restored sight. He is an active member of his school’s basketball, cross country and track teams; and he has become a star student as well. Recently, he competed in the Illinois State Science Fair with a presentation on peripheral vision.

Anthony is grateful for his sight every day and enjoys any opportunity he has to share his experience with others. He and his family continue to honor his gift by promoting the Donate Life mission and encouraging others to become registered eye, organ and tissue donors.

Story provided courtesy of Illinois Eye Bank

I am grateful for the gift of sight and for individuals making the decision to donate life. My vision has been corrected with glasses since the age of 5. While a senior in nursing school I began to have headaches and a decrease in visual acuity that could that required special lenses in my glasses to correct my vision. My optometrist diagnosed me with Keratoconus, a disease that causes the cornea to become cone-shaped. After graduating from nursing school and 2 years into my career I began to have problems reading normal handwriting, increase in headaches and problems while driving.

My doctor referred me to an ophthalmologist who informed me I had to be placed on a waiting list for a cornea. Thankfully that wait was short lived. In less than a week and the day before Thanksgiving I received my first cornea. An officer that was killed in the line of duty was a donor and a year younger than myself. I will never be able to thank his family enough for honoring his wishes. Five years later I had to receive my second transplant due the disease progression in my non-transplanted cornea.  I was able to schedule surgery due to the increase in the number of donors. This all began 23 years ago and my corneas are great and my vision is corrected with glasses. Without the “gift” from donors I would not have been able to fulfill my life time dream of being a nurse. Thanks to all the donors and for their families making sure their wishes are fulfilled.

My story began on a June day in 2013.  Probably well before then, but I remember this one day in particular as the day I realized something was really wrong with my right eye.  I glanced to my right to acknowledge a co-worker in my doorway and immediately realized the vision in my right eye was so cloudy I couldn’t see anything but a silhouette.  I had been experiencing blurriness, halos, cloudiness, burning and an overall gradual decline in my vision for quite some time, which had been diagnosed and treated by my optometrist as dry eye.  On this fateful day, I knew I had bigger problems to deal with.  I immediately contacted an eye specialist in my area and within one week I was sitting in a cornea specialist’s office hearing the news that a recurrent infection had caused irreversible scarring and damage to my cornea; my vision would only worsen.  Thus began my journey through not one, but two, DSAEK (partial) corneal transplants in my right eye.

By the time I underwent my first transplant more than a year later in October of 2014, I was experiencing pain and vision deficiencies demanding that my life revolve around my worsening eye condition.  The pain was constant, I experienced daily headaches, eye exhaustion, extreme light sensitivity and, obviously, my vision itself continued to decline.  My eye condition touched every facet of my life: my marriage, my children, my job, my social life and my ability to remain physically active.  I eventually found myself planning my life around my condition and my days became identified as “good eye days” or “bad eye days.”  I was anxious to have the procedure, get through the recovery and return to living my life the way it was before.

Two weeks after surgery, I was advised by my doctor that my new cornea was not responding or functioning as expected.  At two months post-op, my transplant was deemed unsuccessful and a second transplant procedure was recommended.  I elected to transfer my medical care to Duke Eye Center and began working toward my second transplant with my new surgeon, Dr. Taras Semchyshyn.  In September of 2015, I underwent my second DSAEK corneal transplant performed by Dr. Semchyshyn.  Thus began my second round of recovery complete with multiple applications of anti-rejection eye drops, fingers crossed and high hopes for success.

In the five months since my second corneal transplant, my right eye vision has improved to where it stands now at 20/40 with no correction.  My new cornea is clear with no cloudiness, no halos, no light sensitivity and, best of all, no pain!  I’m able to exercise and run and play with my daughters without fear of injuring myself.  I am able to stay up late and get up early without suffering the painful consequences of a severely swollen cornea.  My life no longer revolves around my troublesome and debilitating eye condition.

I can’t thank both of my donor families enough for choosing to donate their loved ones’ eyes so that others like me might see.  I will always remember to take the time to enjoy and appreciate the visual beauty that surrounds me not only for myself, but also for my donor, whose selfless act of generosity has given me the most precious gift I have ever received.

Read more about what we do, donating tissue and more.

Jerome Wheeler, MIS Surgical Recovery Specialist, has quite a connection to eye donation and corneal transplantation. Jerome’s daily work is recovering corneal tissue needed for transplant. The gift of sight was, and continues to be a very personal journey for Jerome and his family.

“In 1999, Dr. Terry Kim, Professor of Ophthalmology at Duke University Eye Center told my wife and I that our son, Shane, would be the youngest patient to receive corneal transplant surgery…at 6 days old, Shane’s vision was saved.”

Now, seventeen years later, Shane’s transplant has lasted longer than 90% of patients at Duke University Eye Center! The entire Wheeler family, especially Shane, is looking forward to continued success with this very special gift.

“I am grateful and honored to be part of the system that saved my son’s vision. And I truly believe that my continued service here has a Spiritual impact on the great success/progress my son has experienced.”

Jerome Wheeler