Myths and facts about donating your eyes

You might remember Bennett, the six-year-old boy who gave the Braille/print copy of my children’s book, Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound a thumbs up after reading it with his dad. “I like that book you got me, ” he told his mom. “It’s a true story, and no one ever writes true stories for kids about people who are blind like me.”

Bennett and his companion dog Journey.

I’ve kept up with Bennett ever since his mom emailed me with that stellar review, and in March I wrote a post about Bennett and his parents traveling from Wisconsin to the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh to have Dr. Ken Nischal, one of the world’s foremost children’s eye specialists, try a cornea transplant in Bennett’s right eye. Bennett’s mom Amy sent an email this week with good news: she says the transplant went really well, and Bennett is doing great since it all took place. His vision was worse than 20/600 before the surgery, and it’s 20/400 now, a little more than a month later. The doctor is hoping that it improves to as well as 20/200 within a few months, and then a lens implant could also help improve Bennett’s vision.

Friday was the last day Bennett had to take steroids, and Amy says his teachers are eager to have the “old Bennett” back. She wrote that “a month-and-a-half on medication makes for a very crabby, defiant six-year-old!”

Bennett’s success has many of their friends talking about signing up to be organ donors, and Amy was surprised to learn how many of them had registered as organ donors a long time ago but had left strict instruction to their families that anything could be taken except their eyes.

Maybe people have some misinformation about eye donation? Dunno. That post I wrote in March gives more details about how cornea transplants work, and I hope posting some myths and facts here from an Eye Bank web site will help clear up some other misconceptions, too:

Myth: My religion doesn’t allow organ and tissue donation.
Fact: Most religions throughout the world support organ and tissue donation as a humanitarian act of giving. Transplantation is consistent with the life preserving traditions of these faiths. You are encouraged to discuss donation with your religious or spiritual leader.
Myth: If I donate my eyes it will leave holes in the place where they existed.
Fact: Only the Cornea portion of the eye is removed and hence the appearance of the face of the deceased remains the same.
Myth: I’m “blind as a bat” no one wants my eyes.
Fact: Usually poor vision is due to your lens. So you are still able to donate your corneas.
Myth: I can’t be a donor because I want an open casket funeral.
Fact: You can still have open casket. There should be no visible signs following eye donation. As long as the body is properly cared for after the time of death. The donor is treated with utmost respect and dignity. The process neither disfigures the body, nor changes the way it looks in a casket. No one, except the family members involved in the decision, will know about the donation.

More than 90% of cornea transplant operations successfully restore the recipient’s vision, and cornea transplants are the most frequently performed human transplant procedure. Signing up to be an organ donor is much easier than you might think. A web site called Donate Life America provides a list of where to register in your state, and if you do decide to donate, make sure to tell your family your wishes as well.

Bennett’s parents share their son’s story in hopes of motivating people to become organ donors. “We try to convince them that they won’t need their eyes in heaven,” Amy told me. “Why not share something with someone here on earth if it can be of benefit, right?”