Milford's Dwyer A Longtime Advocate Of Eye Donation
Posted
Erin Windle-
MILFORD - Berniece Dwyer, Milford, experienced the gift of restored sight 20 years ago, and has since been promoting the donation of eyes after death.
Sight can be restored with a new, replaced cornea. What is needed is simply a new, clear piece of tissue fixed over the eye.
"Our surgeons have the skill to produce sight," Dwyer said. "I want to emphasize the need for people to know that donating their eyes after death is so important."
Dwyer has been writing letters to the editor at various newspapers, trying to explain the importance of eye donations, after she herself received a cornea transplant in each eye. The problem persists that people are not making the arrangements to donate their eyes until they no longer have the chance to, and the need for healthy corneas are not being met.
"You have to know someone who experienced new sight to understand," Dwyer said.
A procedure takes place where the impaired cornea is peeled off because it is not permitting light to come through the eye. A new piece of cornea is then stitched on. "That new piece could come from a neighbor down the street or from another country," she said.
Most people are aware of the opportunity to donate other organs, where they can display their choice on their licenses. However, the donation of eyes is not mentioned as often. "As a nation, we are lacking, terribly, the need to tell our next of kin to donate their eyes," she said.
Years after her transplant, Dwyer went back to the doctor who performed her procedure, and her doctor was very pleased the way everything healed and the excellent vision Dwyer could now experience.
