Imagine a Son's Legacy

Thanks to Dorian’s donation, two cornea recipients received the gift of sight, including an infant who was facing a lifetime of blindness.

Cornea Donation

Since 1960, Saving Sight has coordinated cornea donation and the distribution of corneas for transplant. Today, we operate in Missouri, Kansas, and central Illinois, and we distribute corneas to transplant surgeons in those states, the rest of the U.S., and around the world to help people receive the precious gift of sight.

Help us spread the message about eye, organ, and tissue donation in your community. If you haven’t yet, register your choice to donate online at Donate Life America or your local Department of Motor Vehicles office. And be sure to speak with your family about your decision.

The Compassion of a Little Boy, The Strength of a Tiger

The Compassion of a Little Boy, The Strength of a Tiger

From the moment he entered the world, Mason Kempf made an impact on everyone he met through his big smile and bigger heart. By the time he left this world in March 2011, that impact wrapped around the globe and showed complete strangers how one little boy can change...

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Sight Saved in Haiti Thanks to Saving Sight Partner in Sight

Sight Saved in Haiti Thanks to Saving Sight Partner in Sight

In a developing country like Haiti, vision loss can be a devastating blow to an individual’s ability to work and support one’s self, not to mention his or her entire family. Glaucoma, cataracts, corneal blindness – disorders that can be treated here in the U.S. – can...

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Lion’s Legacy Lives on Through Donation

Lion’s Legacy Lives on Through Donation

In McDonald, Kan., Duane Wilkens was long known as someone you could turn to for help in the community.A grain elevator operator, father to three, and grandfather to seven, Duane devoted much of his free time to his family, yet still found time in his busy schedule to...

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Clouds Lift for a Cornea Transplant Recipient

Clouds Lift for a Cornea Transplant Recipient

Each school day, first graders in Centralia, Kansas open their books and their minds thanks to one special teacher. As a Reading Recovery teacher, Marsha helps those children who are struggling with reading gain the skills they need to become stronger students. Yet,...

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Cornea Transplant Opens New Chapter in Recipient’s Life

Cornea Transplant Opens New Chapter in Recipient’s Life

When you tell someone you work in a library, they automatically think you’re an avid reader. But for Denise from Hays, Kan., a part-time library employee, the opposite was true. Not because she didn’t love to read, but because a lifelong eye condition affected her...

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Cornea Transplant Gives Recipient Independence Back

Cornea Transplant Gives Recipient Independence Back

For years, Larry lived with the pain and inconvenience of an eye disease called keratoconus. The condition caused his corneas in both eyes to become cone shaped, leaving him with poor vision, constant headaches, eye pain and frequent eye infections. The condition...

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Young Cornea Recipient Shows Bravery in Face of Adversity

Young Cornea Recipient Shows Bravery in Face of Adversity

For many young cornea recipients, receiving the “gift of sight” through a cornea transplant can be an anxious and frightening time. Occasionally, the Heartland Lions Eye Banks receives stories about young children who have been very brave in coping with the loss of...

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Eye Donor Saves the Sight of a Father and Husband

Eye Donor Saves the Sight of a Father and Husband

The need for a corneal transplant can strike any one at any age – whether it’s due to an ocular disease, disorder or injury. For 38 year-old Robert, his problem began in his late teens. For 20 years, Robert suffered from kerataconus, a disorder which causes the...

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