Public Education
A main goal of The Eye-Bank is to educate the public
about the ongoing need for eye donations for transplant, medical
education and research. The public education department’s
efforts to bring this message to the community include producing
an eight-page newsletter called eye-to-eye; creating public service
announcements for print; radio and television; and reaching out
the public and disseminating information through health fairs, libraries,
school education programs and other special projects throughout
the year. The Eye-Bank’s public education department works
closely with cornea transplant recipients and donor families who
are willing to share their personal experience to help others understand
the good that eye donation can do.
Brooklyn Resident Elated With Gift of Restored
Sight
 Once
afraid at the prospect of traveling the short distance to work everyday,
Elaine Gray now welcomes the opportunity to make elaborate travel
plans to places as far away as Alaska since her sight has been restored
with two cornea transplants.
In 1976 she was diagnosed with keratoconus, a progressive
eye disease causing the cornea, the clear, outer covering of the
eye, to thin and become cone shaped. Untreated, it can lead to blindness.
At the time of diagnosis Elaine, the mother of two,
began wearing hard contact lenses designed to help correct the blurred
vision caused by the disease. But, as the keratoconus progressed,
it became apparent that the contact lenses were not an adequate
solution to the problem. Her only alternative was a cornea transplant
and on August 30th, 1996, Dr. Wilson Ko performed the sight-restoring
procedure at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, with tissue provided
by The Eye-Bank for Sight Restoration.
Her first transplant successfully corrected the
vision in her right eye and she received another cornea transplant
later in her left eye. She said that no day passes without her thinking
about her donors and their families and she is incredibly humbled
and grateful for her second chance at sight. In July 2003, Elaine
represented all cornea recipients in saying thank you at the National
Donor Family Ceremony in Washington, DC.
Retirement becomes Brighter For Cornea Transplant
Recipient
 For
Audrey Soracco, being able to read a book makes her smile. Ever
since someone was kind enough to leave her the gift of sight, she
has been doing nothing but smiling knowing when she opens her eyes
each morning she’ll be able to see.
Soracco received a sight-restoring cornea transplant
in 1998 and it has improved her life in so many ways. For one, she
can now read her books with ease. “I used to have to hold
the book right up to my eyes, and still I wasn’t seeing it
clearly.”
When her eyesight began to fail in 1997 she was
referred to a cornea specialist and was diagnosed with Fuch’s
Dystrophy, a degenerative disease that results in blindness.
Fortunately her eyesight could be restored with
a cornea transplant, which was successfully performed by Dr. David
Haight at Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital in New York City
with donor eye tissue supplied by The Eye-Bank for Sight Restoration
The very next day the protective eye patch was removed
and Audrey noticed a change immediately. “When Dr. Haight
removed the eye shield it was as if God turned the light on again.
I looked at the eye chart and kept saying to him, I can see the
‘E’, I can see the ‘E’!”
As a way of giving something back for her gift,
Audrey, who recently retired from practice as a psychotherapist,
volunteers with The Eye-Bank’s Speaker’s Bureau going
out to area schools and community groups to speak on the importance
of organ, eye and tissue donation.
She also now has time for travel and her face beams
when speaking of her recent trip to California to visit her nieces
and nephews and for the restored eyesight that allows her to really
see their smiling faces.
David See: His Name is His Legacy
 David
See was a trainer of guide dogs for the blind and dedicated his
life to helping others regain independence from a world of darkness.
So it comes as no surprise that in his death he would continue to
help the blind by donating his eyes to The Eye-Bank, giving two
people the precious gift of sight.
According to his wife, Susan, David died very unexpectedly
from a blood clot at the age of 44. Devastated by the news, she
sat in the hospital thinking about what she was going to do, how
she was going to cope with the loss. She was then approached by
a nurse asking for consent to eye and tissue donation. Without hesitation,
she agreed to donate.
Though it was an incredibly emotional time for the
whole family, she explained how donating her husband’s eyes
and tissues helped ease some of the pain of losing him. “Everything
had a symbol that day. We decided to donate his arteries, remembering
both his mother and uncle had bypass surgery. We donated his corneas,
thinking of how he dedicated his life helping the blind, and his
skin, since he was a fireman and skin is used to help heal burn
wounds.”
Mrs. See said she and her family’s healing
has begun and it’s helpful knowing that David is living on
in others.
“His whole life was spent helping others,
so it was only natural in his death he did the same. If two people
can see because of his donation, it makes some of the pain seem
worth it,” Mrs. See said. “He was such a loving and
giving person.”
Presidential Kudos For Nathan Sheinfeld!
 For
nine years old, Nathan Sheinfeld, June 5, 1998 started like any
other day. However, while playing miniature golf, Nathan was accidentally
struck in his left eye with a golf club, causing his eye to rupture.
Performing surgery immediately, surgeons found the
worst had occurred - Nathan's retina had become permanently detached
causing total blindness in his left eye and requiring the entire
eye to be removed. If Nathan was allowed to keep his eye he would
develop sympathetic ophthalmia, a condition that would eventually
lead to blindness in his other eye.
Nathan wanted to know what would become of his eye
once it was removed. Doctors told his mother, Rachel Heisler, that
since the cornea was still healthy, it could be used for a sight-saving
cornea transplant for someone else in need. In spite of his own
trauma, Nathan decided to donate his healthy eye tissue to The Eye-Bank
for Sight Restoration.
As a result of Nathan's caring decision, the
sight of a 53-year-old man was restored. President Clinton praised
Nathan in a letter commending him on his act of courage.
Today Nathan, who has a prosthetic left eye,
is 15 and back on the sports field. He recently took part in a donor
awareness event at Madison Square Garden in New York City and many
of his friends from Solomon Schecter High School came with him.
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