StemCell Therapy

The Center for Sight provides free eye surgery at its annual Mission Cataract event.

For the past two years Daniel Medrano-Luna has lived inside a thick haze.

Through the fog of cataracts, the 68-year-old walked over two hours to his church every Sunday for Mass, before hitching back to his campsite in Bradenton. If no one picked him up on his way back home, he would sleep outside and take a bus back Monday.

Homeless and without insurance, Medrano-Luna had little hope for an eye appointment with an opthamologist, let alone corrective surgery.

But that changed when Medrano-Luna was approved for a free cataract surgery at the Center for Sight in Sarasota. The center opened its doors Wednesday for its annual Mission Cataract event, in which staff members offer free cataract eye surgeries to people who cant afford it.

Nearly 100 patients signed up for the Wednesday event and some will return on July 19, the second day of surgeries, to have the cataract in their other eye removed. Medrano-Luna and his girlfriend Lynn Atyeo arrived by bus early. They were worried after the surgery because they didnt know if they could afford to come back for the follow up appointment Thursday.

These past few months have been very rough, Atyeo said. Ive been very sick and Ive been living off disability. I try to feed the both of us with my food stamps.

Atyeo helps translate for Medrano-Luna, who immigrated to the United States from Mexico in 1981. After the surgery, when the two began asking for donations for the appointment the next day, center staff members instead scheduled a transport bus to pick them up.

Oh bless you and thank you all so much, Atyeo said after one staff member confirmed the follow up. The couple will return next week so that Medrano-Luna can have the cataract in his other eye removed.

Cataracts develop as the lens of the eye becomes foggy or opaque, leading to blurred vision. The surgery is considered a minor outpatient procedure in which the doctor removes the lens and replaces it with a clear artificial lens.

Dr. William Soscia has been a surgeon with the Center for Sight and its Mission Cataract event for nearly a decade.

Its an exciting day for all of us, Soscia said. When we were at the beginning phases of our career, for me 20 years ago when I was in med school, I was asked why I wanted to do this. The answer was to take care of people.

The nurses and surgeons donate their time on both days that the center provides the free surgeries. Soscia said that about five years ago Dr. David Shoemaker founded the Center for Sight Foundation, which raised money for the event. The team has expanded the services to offer more than 100 surgeries over the two Wednesdays.

We all come in here with a smile. We all come in here excited because we are all doing this to help people, Soscia said. It feels like a million bucks.

Soscia estimated that the surgery and services administered to the patients would cost around $3,000 to $5,000 for each eye. Many of the patients have developed cataracts in both eyes. But giving sight back to those who couldnt afford it otherwise has a clear impact on those helping to provide the service.

I was in Ghana, Africa, in 2000 and that was a great experience. But this has a particular special feeling because it's in the town we live in, Soscia said. We get to take care of the people who are working and living in the same place as us.

Some patients traveled across Florida for the procedure. Ed Brown, 54, drove hours from north of Gainesville. Hehad to leave his job as a forklift driver after cataracts diminished his vision. For more than a year he was without a job, struggling to complete even simple tasks.

I looked high and low for someone to help me, Brown said. But you get stuck in that rut and you cant get out."

He found out about the free surgery online and applied. Upon receiving the call, Brown said he called his girlfriend and mother and told them the good news. Over the next few weeks hell be spending time with some family that lives in Sarasota while he recovers.

Its overwhelming. I can see everything where before I couldnt see anything, Brown said. I dont think Ive ever seen this good out of this eye. This is awesome."

In the future, Brown said he plans to support the Center for Sight and the Cataract Mission.

Im going to give back, Brown said. Ive talked to some people who have donated to and thats what Im going to do.

Read the original post:
Sarasota cataract center restores sight for the needy - Sarasota Herald-Tribune

This entry was posted on July 12, 2017 at 4:53 pm and is filed under Eye Sight & Vision. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |