Cornea surgery allows little boy to see color of his mother’s eyes for first time
By Cathy Frisinger
“My son was a miracle when he was born and his life ended making miracles for others,” Vicky Blair said of her 17-year-old son, Shon, who lost his life in 2014.
Shon, a burly high school football player, had signed up to be an organ, eye and tissue donor when he became a licensed driver, and because of that action seven lives were saved, and numerous others were benefited through eye and tissue donation. Mrs. Blair told his story to a gathering of more than 600 people who attended the 2015 Celebration of Thanksgiving for the Gift of Transplantation Medicine event.
The annual event on the UT Southwestern Medical Center campus, held at the start of the winter holidays in the Tom and Lula Gooch Auditorium, brings together the families of eye and tissue donors, tissue transplant recipients, health care professionals, and organizations that support tissue transplantation to honor the memories of individuals who helped improve the lives of others by being eye and tissue donors at the time of their death.
One of those whom Shon helped was 7-year-old Mason Smith, who was born with infantile glaucoma, and who received one of Shon’s corneas.
Mason’s mother, Cindy Smith, told the gathering that one of the first things Mason said to her following his transplant was, “Mommy, your eyes are blue.”
The little boy, whose left cornea was severely scarred by the effects of the glaucoma, had such poor vision before the transplant that he had thought his mother’s eyes were gray.
“There are many here today who are thankful for the gift of time, the time you had with a loved one and the knowledge that they are continuing to help others through their final gift,” said Donna Drury, Director of the Transplant Services Center at UT Southwestern. “Others gathered here may be thankful for the gift of restored sight, or a life-saving heart-valve transplant.”
The Transplant Services Center is the regional eye and tissue bank, serving some 160 hospitals in North Central Texas. Tissues that can be transplanted include musculoskeletal tissue, heart valves, veins, skin, and corneas. About 15,000 patients were served by the Transplant Services Center in 2015.
“For many years this special event, started by former Transplant Services Center Director Ellen Heck, has been the start of the holiday season in my heart,” said Dr. Dwight Cavanagh, one of the Medical Directors of the Transplant Services Center and a Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at UT Southwestern. “It’s a celebration of giving and receiving, enriching the lives of all who are touched by transplant.”
Other Medical Directors of Transplant Services are Dr. Laurie Sutor, Professor of Pathology, Dr. Jill Urban, Assistant Professor of Pathology, and Dr. Jade Le, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine.
Each year, the event culminates with personalized recognition of the donors. As a photo of the donor is projected on a large screen at the front of the auditorium, a few sentences describing the donor are read to the assembly. Simultaneously, a member of the donor’s family ties a green ribbon onto the “Circle of Care,” three interlocking circles representing donors, recipients, and health care professionals.
