Eye bank honors those who gave the gift of sight

IOWA CITY — Joseph Carlson didn't see much of an event held in his honor Thursday afternoon.

But that's merely because the 16-month-old son of Andrea and John Carlson was sleeping.

Had he been awake, Joseph would have seen things just fine, thanks to the Iowa Lions Eye Bank.

The organization hosted its annual Celebration of Hope & Renewal at the Iowa Lions Donor Memorial & Healing Garden on the campus of University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.

The event honors eye, organ and tissue donors who transform the lives of others through the gift of sight and life. It also aims to promote organ donation.

Joseph was born Jan. 5, 2015. Three days later, a pediatric ophthalmologist in Des Moines diagnosed him with Peter's Anomaly, a rare condition that causes corneas to be clouded at birth. Corneas are the typically clear, frontal layer that covers the iris, pupil and anterior chamber of the human eyes.

Andrea Carlson said the condition caused Joseph's eyes to resemble 'a very, very, dirty windshield.'

'He couldn't see out, but the light could come in,' she told a crowd of about 75 people at the ceremony.

Luckily, thanks to the eye bank, Joseph was given the gift of sight.

At 3 months old, he underwent his first surgery — to replace the cornea on his left eye — thus becoming the youngest patient of the year at the Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences Department at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.

The surgery was a success, something his mother first realized while shopping at Walmart. She said Joseph started repeatedly putting his hands in front of his face and she knew he could see them.

'That was the first time I looked at him and our eyes met — or at least one of them,' she said. 'I was standing in the middle of Walmart crying. It was an emotional time because I knew it was working.'

A second surgery followed and today Joseph is a healthy, chubby-cheeked child with a head of dark hair. He still is dealing with issues related to his eyes — he has glaucoma in one eye, wears glasses to help him see and he'll likely need additional transplant surgeries as he ages.

But it's a far cry from what might have been if not for an organ donor.

Unlike typical organ donations, the cornea is the only a part of the human eye that can be transplanted. However, other ocular tissue can be studied by researchers at the Iowa Lions Eye Bank.

Founded in 1955 with support from the Iowa Lions, the Iowa Lions Eye Bank is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the restoration and preservation of sight through the recovery, processing and distribution of human ocular tissue for transplantation and research, primarily in Iowa, but also throughout the world.

Adam Stockman, director of lab operations for the Iowa Lions Eye Bank, said the organization recovered more than 1,200 donations of ocular tissue in 2015 for research and transplants.

Approximately 48,000 cornea transplants — the most common transplant surgery — are done each year in the United States, added Laura Shoemaker, donor development coordinator for Eastern Iowa at the eye bank.

Both Stockman and Shoemaker stressed the need for more people to become organ donors with Shoemaker pointing out that about 1.6 million Iowans are registered — about one third of Iowa residents.

That point was amplified by Tony Knight, program director of nuclear medicine technology at UIHC, who served as keynote speaker during Thursday's event.

For Knight, the issue hits close to home.

His wife, Peggy Knight, was among those honored as a donor of ocular tissue during Thursday's program. Peggy Knight, who also worked at UIHC, died on Oct. 4 after she and Tony were struck by a car while walking in late September. Her corneas were successfully transplanted.

Tony Knight said his wife had always been pro-organ donation, and had wanted to donate her body to science. However, due to the severity of her injuries, only her corneas could be donated.

'We both worked at an institution for health care, which is all about helping others. We believe that we're at an age at where we can save lives or effect lives even after we've passed,' Knight said. 'That's something we thought we wanted to be able to do.'

He encouraged everyone to register as an organ donor.

Andrea Carlson equated organ donors to true heroes and tearfully thanked the nameless donors who gave her son 'a miracle.'

'Everyday, our family is grateful to the gift they gave my baby boy,' she said.