Lion Donna Walker-Hulben
On a recent trip to the Veterans Community Living Center in Walsenburg, CO, a Veteran recognized our Lions by the bright yellow vests we wear and proceeded to tell us a very heartwarming story. The Lions helped her to obtain surgery and replaced her right eyelid and parts of her eye enabling her to see again – all at no cost to her! This amazing story not only brought good feelings to our group but also reminded us that we are “Knights for the Blind”.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of Helen Keller asking Lions to be “Knights for the Blind”. Our club made a $500 donation to the Rocky Mountain Lions Eye Bank (RMLEB) which will be utilized for the eye surgery fund.
RMLEB was founded in 1982 by the Lions of Colorado and Wyoming. They are very proud of their connection to Lions and their continued service to our sight-saving mission. They believed the Colorado community needed to serve children and adults whose blindness can be cured through transplantation and to help them become active members of society. The Eye Bank works to fulfill the “We Serve” motto and their mission is to help individuals overcome blindness through transplantation and research.
To date RMLEB has transplanted over 60,000 corneas. They are currently receiving donations of whole eye corneas for transplantation. Donated eye tissues are first placed with recipients on a local transplant waiting list. If a suitable recipient cannot be found locally, a search is conducted with other eye banks in the United States. If a suitable recipient still cannot be found, a search is conducted through international networks to find a recipient in other parts of the world. In this way, all viable corneas are transplanted.
Research is ongoing and within the next 20 years, they anticipate whole eye transplantation. Isn’t that amazing! For more information, please visit corneas.org.
