Lions Eye Bank celebrates National Eye Donor Month

March is National Eye Donor Month, and Louisiana Lions Eye Bank works to bring attention to eye donors.

“Eye Donor Awareness Month was proclaimed by President Reagan back in 1982 to bring awareness to signing up to being an organ, eye and tissue donor,” Tony Simpson, marketing and education coordinator for Louisiana Lions Eye Bank, said. “Sadly in this area, we don’t have enough donors signed up. Our biggest goals for this month are to bring awareness to first of all –sign up to being a donor, and second to help out spreading knowledge of your local eye bank.”

Spreading awareness includes introducing residents to a resource they may not have even realized was available.

“A lot of people don’t even know that we exist. Our eye bank services 33 parishes in the state of Louisiana, and last year we provided sight for over 230 people,” Simpson said.

Another facet of education that Louisiana Lions Eye Bank provides is debunking the myths associated with donation.

“One of the false assumptions about eye donation is that we just take the whole eyeball out. It’s just the cornea that we take. People also worry about what it will cost their families if they sign up to be a donor – but it doesn’t cost anything to the family,” Simpson said. “We transplant corneas to eight corneal transplant surgeons in the Shreveport-Bossier area. They will send us a request from a list of patients, and then if we don’t have the cornea that they need, we request one from another eye bank in the state. If it’s not available within the state, we have to look nationally. We are constantly in communication with other eye banks to get people sight.”

As with any other transplantation, there is a protocol and matching system that must be observed when dealing with corneas, Simpson said.

“Just like any other organ, the cornea has to be a match to the recipient,” Simpson said. “We have cell counts to make sure they are up to par, we have blood work that has to come back to show there isn’t any reason to rule it out,” he said. “If for some reason, we have a cornea, and we don’t have a surgery scheduled, then we put it on a network so that other eye banks can get it from us. We ship corneas to eye banks overseas all the time. We try every effort we have possible to get the corneas placed and provide someone, somewhere with sight,” Simpson said.

Louisiana Lions Eye Bank also brings families of donors and recipients together.

The eye bank will have an eye donor awareness dinner March 28 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Bossier. Families whose loved ones have passed and donated a cornea are invited along with recipients who have received corneas. The event starts at 6:30, and tickets are $30.

Jim Vanderberry is a proud supporter of Louisiana Lions Eye Bank and was the recipient of a corneal transplant established through the organization.

“Sorrowfully, in November 2010 Nicholas Jordan Aucoin lost his life in an automobile accident on the way to pick up his sisters. He donated six of his organs, and I received his corneas,” Vanderberry said.

“I had been diagnosed with Fuchs’ Dystrophy [a deterioration of the cornea] and in a very short time I had lost the sight in my left eye. Through the skill of my surgeon Dr. John Carmody and his team, I’m seeing the world through this magnificent young man’s eyes. He is my sight angel. Not a day goes by that I don’t wake up and thank God, Nicholas Jordan Aucoin, Dr. John Carmody and Louisiana Eye Bank for the miracle of my sight.”

Register to be an eye donor by calling the Louisiana Lions Eye Bank offices or visiting their website – or when renewing a driver’s license.

“My goal and the goal of Louisiana Lions Eye Bank is to remind people to get their names on the donor list or get it on their driver’s license. I say that some wonderful person gives their legacy through donation so that someone like me can be restored with the miracle of sight and see the world through their eyes,” Vanderberry said.

For more information or to donate to this nonprofit organization, contact Louisiana Lions Eye Bank at 222-7999 or on their website at www.lalionsibnk.org.

– Mandy Byrd