Over forty-four thousand Americans and hundreds of thousands of others around the world suffer from blindness each year. Visual loss from corneal disease compromises their quality of life. This tragic loss of vision may result from congenital disease, infection, trauma, chemical burns or corneal swelling, to name a few.

Fortunately, through the medical miracle of corneal transplantation, sight restoration is possible. Since there is no substitute for human tissue, the transplantation process depends upon the priceless gift of corneal donation from one human to the next. The Missouri Lions Eye Research Foundation's eye bank program, Hartland Eye Banks, helps facilitate and safeguard this gift from donor to recipient.

The primary purpose of the Heartland Eye Banks is to provide human eye tissue for cornea transplants. The cornea is the clear outer portion of the eye which allows light to enter the eye. If an individual with good vision were to view the world through a piece of wax paper, this would be a simplified view of what an individual with a damaged cornea may be seeing, only in actuality the severity can be much worse.

Eye donation is essential for corneal transplant surgery: there is no artificial substitute for the human cornea. In other words, donating your eyes is a way to give the gift of sight to someone who might never be able to see again without that gift. Eye donation, like organ and tissue donation, is a way for people to touch the lives of others after they themselves have passed on. The Heartland Eye Banks retrieves donated eye tissue throughout Missouri, Kansas and Central Illinois, and makes it available to surgeons who perform life-altering corneal transplant operations in those states, as well as around the world.

All donated eyes are valuable. A person is never too young or too old to be an eye donor. The color of one's eyes does not matter. Neither do gender nor race. Blood type is not an issue in cornea transplants, since no blood flows through the cornea. People with eye problems, including eye diseases, can also be eye donors. If the donor's cornea is unsuitable for transplant, it along with other parts of the eye, are used in research to find causes and cures for all forms of eye diseases.

If you are interested in becoming an eye donor, signing the back of your drivers license and/or carrying a donor card is a good first step. Discussing your wishes with your family, however, is the key to the eye donation process. The Heartland Eye Banks always obtains the family's permission before retrieving any eye tissue. If you would like to be an eye donor, it is important that you communicate that wish to your family.

After a loss, staff at the hospital or funeral home will discuss eye donation with the family of the deceased. The person charged with making this approach is sensitive to the family's needs during this difficult time. Grieving families are often heartened to learn that a loved one's death can improve the health or prolong the life of another.

Corneal recipients are all ages, from a young infant, only a few weeks old, who might never have been able to see without a cornea transplant, to the young parent, now able to work and support his family with restored eyesight, to the grandparent, who is able to see once again and enjoy their own families. A window to the world has been opened for these recipients, allowing them the opportunity to see again... All because someone cared enough to be an eye donor and give the gift of sight.

During National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Week, April 19th-25th, the Missouri Lions Eye Research Foundation, along with other organ and tissue procurement agencies will generate public awareness of the importance of eye, organ and tissue donation. Lions Clubs are encouraged to utilize this week to incorporate their own community awareness events with their regular Lion activities.

Encourage your fellow Lions and neighbors to say "YES" to the decision to become an eye donor today. The need is great...thousands are waiting to see again. Sight is possible for many--- to donate is a gift. If you would like more information on eye donation, literature on the Foundation's sight programs or donor cards, you can call the Missouri Lions Eye Research Foundation at (573) 443-1471.