by ASN | Oct 13, 2020 | Donor Month, Share Your Story
Bob Randolph had a magnetic personality and an adventurous spirit. “There wasn’t anything that wasn’t fun with Bob,” says his wife, Caroline. “Every day was an adventure.”
Bob and Caroline met on a blind date in California, and they were married in Las Vegas just a few months later. “He had the most beautiful blue eyes. He had the best sense of humor.Everyone loved him,” Caroline remembers. “Bob had this way of making others feel important and at ease.
”Bob loved camping, was a voracious reader, and loved finding excitement in everyday life. “On the weekends, we would get in the car, pick a direction, and just drive. We loved stopping at mom and pop restaurants we’d find along the way,” says Caroline.
Bob served in Vietnam and Desert Storm as a Navy corpsman, and he was EMS coordinator for three military bases. “He was a career military man, just like his father. His job was to heal,” said Caroline, who herself was an EMT and a nurse’s aid. Following his military service, Bob was a phlebotomist at the VA hospital. (more…)
by ASN | Oct 13, 2020 | Donor Month, Share Your Story
Advancing Sight Network ships corneal tissue to 49 states and 56 countries so people can receive sight-saving corneal transplants. Delta cargo agent Lorenzo Dent makes sure the eye tissue makes it to the right place. He knows exactly how important it is to the person awaiting surgery.
“I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes,” he says. “During this time, the vision in my right eye was very blurry.”
Lorenzo’s other eye was already weak from glaucoma, and his doctors felt it was urgent to correct his vision as much as possible. “I couldn’t really see clearly at all,” Lorenzo says. “I couldn’t drive anymore. I had to use the assistant devices on my phone just to read a text.I had to use a magnifying glass at work.”
Lorenzo hated to be dependent on others, but his worsening vision left him no choice.
“I had to depend on everyone around me just to survive,” Lorenzo remembers. “During this time in my life, everything took 300% more effort to do simple things. It left me in a place of hopelessness.” (more…)
by ASN | Oct 13, 2020 | Donor Month, Share Your Story
During my military career, I had a number of duties including preparing soldiers for deployments. As platoon sergeant and medical specialist, I performed medical and drug screenings.A fellow soldier worked at Advancing Sight, which was then called the Alabama Eye Bank. We talked about how they helped patients across the world, and that opened my eyes to the gift that donors and their families provided.After observing several eye tissue recoveries, I knew this was the next step in my career. That was 11 years ago, and I’m still going strong.The most important part of my job is to recover the eye tissue to the best of my ability so it can be used to restore eyesight. I always tell families, “thank you so much for your donation and your gift of sight during this difficult time. You and your family are greatly appreciated.” I also explain the process and let them know their loved one will be treated with the utmost dignity and respect.
by ASN | Aug 18, 2020 | Cornea, Fuchs' Dystrophy, Press Release, Research
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — August 2020 — Two Alabama-based organizations are partnering to find cures for common diseases that cause blindness for millions of people worldwide.
In an effort to help medical researchers develop new treatments and cures for blinding eye diseases, Advancing Sight Network and Kailos Genetics created the OcularGeneScreen, a new genetic screening panel, to be used with eye tissue from post-mortem eye donors. The screening will help determine which genes are associated with eye diseases like age-related macular degeneration (AMD), glaucoma, and Fuch’s Dystrophy.
“These diseases cause a huge decline in quality of life for so many people,” says Dr. Gregory Grossman, Advancing Sight Network’s Chief Scientific Officer. “By identifying the genes involved, we’re taking a huge step forward in being able to find cures.”
Advancing Sight Network is a nonprofit organization that has served Alabama for more than 50 years. In addition to providing eye tissue for corneal transplants, the organization invests in medical research in hopes of restoring eyesight to individuals impacted by eye disease. (more…)
by ASN | Aug 12, 2020 | Cornea, Donor Month, Share Your Story
Dr. Pacha is proud of his daughter, Dima McCuiston, who is partner relations manager at Advancing Sight Network, a non-profit organization dedicated to restoring eyesight through corneal transplantation and ocular research.
An experience with organ donation during his first year of general surgery rotation made a lasting impression on Dr. Mamoun Pacha. It was 1976, and Dr. Pacha received a phone call from Dr. Johanssen, chief of the Renal Transplant Department at the University of Illinois. “Be ready,” she told him. They would be driving several hours to recover kidneys from an organ donor.
Dr. Pacha was nervous about assisting in such an important procedure, but he knew Dr. Johanssen was one of the most respected physicians in the field of surgery and transplantation.
As Dr. Pacha assisted in recovering the kidneys, he remembers another doctor at the head of the table who was recovering the donor’s eyes. He said to Pacha, “I have some important news to deliver to some nice people today.”
Back in Chicago, a nine-year-old Latino boy had been waiting on a compatible kidney donor for several years. He developed renal disease at a young age, and a transplant was his best hope. Dr. Pacha assisted Dr. Johanssen as they took the donor kidneys and performed a successful transplant for the little boy.
When Dr. Pacha checked on the young transplant recipient, a nurse shared a funny story. The boy had been so excited to use the bathroom after the surgery. “Urination was a privilege for him,” said Dr. Pacha. (more…)
