| To: A very special family, |
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THANK YOU! Your gift to me is something I couldn't buy or make. It's just that - a gift. It means that I can see much better than I could for the past 20 years. Sight is very precious and life is difficult when it is limited. Because of your selflessness, with God's help, and a gifted surgeon, I will be better able to serve Him by helping other people. Your gift to me is a most special blessing.
May God continue to bless and comfort you in the loss of your loved one.
Sincerely,
A most grateful cornea recipient.
| To My Cornea
Donor’s Family, |
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First of all, I want to express my deepest sympathy
to you, the family of my cornea donor. Having lost my
husband last summer, I can understand that this is
surely a sad and difficult time for you and you are very
much in my thoughts and prayers.
Because of your kindness and generosity, an
incredible gift has been given to me – the Gift of
Sight.
I have Fuch’s corneal dystrophy, an inherited disease
that causes one’s vision to become foggy, as though you
were trying to look through a sheer white curtain or a
very dirty window. As the disease progressed, my vision
continued to deteriorate, becoming foggier and foggier
so that reading, driving, everything that requires good
eyesight became more and more difficult.
Fuch’s dystrophy eventually leads to blindness and
there is no known cure or treatment other than a corneal
transplant.
Through the thoughtfulness of my donor and you, his
family, I was able to receive a transplant. After the
surgery, the fog lifted and now I am able to see with a
clarity I had not experienced for years. I can see trees
with leaves, blue sky with fleecy white clouds, my
grandchildren’s faces. It is so wonderful!
There are no words that can adequately express my
gratitude to you but please know that I thank you from
the bottom of my heart for donating the corneas to the
Eye Bank. Your gift has allowed the chance for restored
vision for me and for someone else in a situation
similar to mine.
After my husband died, my children and I found
comfort in remembering and I feel that, as long as
someone is remembered, he is somehow still here with us.
I can assure you that, for the rest of my life, not a
day will go by that I don’t remember my donor with
gratitude and awe.
With heartfelt thanks, Cornea Recipient
| Dear Donor Family, |
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I know you are grieving over the loss of your loved
one and the words that I write cannot help to ease the
pain, but I wanted to say a word of thanks for the Gift
of Sight that you have given me. I have had problems
with the cornea in my right eye for over 15 years. Due
to either re-occurring infections or my body rejecting a
donor cornea, I have had a total of four transplants in
that eye. Even though it has been only days since this
last transplant, I can tell this cornea is different
than any other I have ever had. It has healed quicker
than any other transplant I have had and my vision is
getting better faster. Without your gift I would be
totally blind in my right eye. All I can say is thank
you and I pray God will richly bless your family.
Cornea Recipient
| Dear Georgia Eye Bank, |
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I would like to thank you for the Gift of Sight. I’m
a 25 year old female and have received corneal
transplants in both eyes. I thought there was no hope; I
had what is called keratacomus in both eyes. The work
you are doing is outstanding. You’re company is a very
important part of many lives. I would also like to thank
the families whom chose to become donors; they have no
idea what a gift their families have given. If possible,
I would like to send these thanks. I understand I will
not be able to get the names of the families but if
there is a point of contact please let me know. I would
like to send the families a letter or card of thanks.
Please send me information where I can send these
thanks. Thanks again for the new view on life.
Cornea Recipient
| Dear Georgia Eye Bank, |
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[My wife] recently had to have a cornea transplant on
an emergency basis, because of serious problems with her
right eye. It had been planned for some time in the
future, but a situation developed that required
immediate action. [The doctor] evaluated the situation,
late in the day, 5/23/00, and contacted you at the eye
bank in Atlanta. In a matter of hours you provided the
tissue, set up courier services to the airport, jet
service to Augusta, and courier service from Augusta
airport to the university hospital. [Her doctor], in
conjunction with [another doctor] successfully completed
the eye surgery and had the eye stabilized by midnight.
We want to say thank you for the wonderful service you
provided, and to the family of the donor for their
precious gift. We will always be thankful and remember
the ones that provided the means to save the eye.
The Husband of a Recipient
| Dear Friends, |
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And you truly are my friends! You don’t know me, and I don’t know you; but you have given me a gift that will be with me for the rest of my life.
I know that it was a difficult decision for your family to donate your child’s cornea to the eye bank, and I can never thank you enough for that decision. I lost a son several years ago, and I know the depth of strain and heartache you endured. You have my unlimited admiration for making the decision to give the “gift of sight” to another during such a stressful time.
My mother went blind; and I had such a fear that blindness would be a part of my future. My doctor assures me “that’s not in the cards” for me because of your generosity.
I will soon be eighty-three years old. As I watched my Mother sit in growing darkness as she went blind, my heart ached. Because of my family history, I could reach the ripe old age of one hundred, and to sit in darkness for fifteen years or more is a horrible thought. Now my fears for that have been relieved.
Thank you, and my family also thanks you. Our hearts overflow with gratitude as we think of the wonderful gift you have made to us. You are truly our friends.
With deepest gratitude, Cornea Recipient
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