StemCell Therapy

ANN ARBOR, MI -- A Christmas Day phone call to Ann Arbor eye bank Eversight four years ago has stuck with CEO David Bosch as the most memorable reaction to a successful surgery.

A woman who received a cornea transplant called to express thanks after an emotional experience with her restored vision.

She told us, I just wanted to call and thank you because today, I got to see my children open their presents.' Thats my favorite story, Bosch said. It doesnt get any better than that.

Eversight, headquartered in an eye-shaped building at 3985 Research Park Drive in Ann Arbor, uses donated corneas for research and transplants to restore eyesight.

Another patient, who before a transplant could only see shadows, told Eversight technicians how excited she was to see her toilet flushing with a blue Ty-D-Bol, Bosch said.

She said 'it was so blue and it was so vibrant, and it was so cool to see a color because shes never seen that. Ill never take Ty-D-Bol for granted ever again. That was really cool, Bosch said.

The 72-year-old company runs a network of eye banks that began operating in 1947 in Ohio, New Jersey, Connecticut, Illinois and South Korea. The company works with more than 300 surgeons and healthcare professionals to prepare and provide more than 8,000 sight-restoring transplants a year in about 30 countries.

Eversight, which moved into the 30,000-square-foot space in August, collects tissue through donations, and has an in-house lab to prepare corneas based on surgeons needs.

It also donates 3,000 corneas to eye and vision researchers each year, saving the higher quality tissue for surgical needs when possible.

Last year (in Michigan), we provided 1,000 tissues for transplant. That came from about 1,300 donors. So some of that tissue goes around the world, really, Bosch said. We provide people with sight who suffer some kind of disease or industrial accidents. Theres a lot of reasons people are blind. We deal with corneal disease and injuries to the cornea.

Hospitals notify Eversight when a potential donor dies, and its staff checks whether the individual is in a donor registry. Family members are then contacted to discuss using the persons corneal tissue for transplants or research, Bosch said.

Once they receive the tissue, they evaluate it, test it, ensure its safe and usable for transplants.

We prepare it, we send it to (surgeons), they transplant it and they can see again, Bosch said.

The process takes 14 days, at most, but averages 10, he added. And the company offers at least 100 cornea a year at little to no cost to anyone who cannot afford a transplant through the companys Gift of Sight Fund.

The company is also in the process of building six eye banks in Pakistan as part of an international outreach effort to serve more countries, Bosch said. Two eye banks have opened there so far, with a third expected to open next year.

The mission is to restore sight and prevent blindness, and Eversight envisions a world without blindness.

I cant imagine doing anything else. Theres still somebody we can help, which keeps me going, Bosch said. If we dont do more, then people suffer.

Read more here:
Ann Arbor eye bank gives the gift of vision, preparing 8,000 cornea transplants annually - mlive.com

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