Industry News
Partnering in Humanitarian Efforts – Dr. Ukeme Umana
Ukeme Umana, M.D., Refractive Surgery Specialist at the Laser Refractive Institute of the Marion, Illinois Eye Centers.
Supporting our partner surgeons in their humanitarian efforts is one way Saving Sight is able to honor the gift of sight. These partnerships offer the possibility for restored vision for those who otherwise would not have access to care.
Ukeme Umana, M.D., is a long standing partner of Saving Sight. Dr. Umana is currently the Refractive Surgery Specialist directing the Laser Refractive Institute of the Marion, Illinois Eye Centers.
Each year, Dr. Umana travels to Nigeria 1-2 times to perform corneal and cataract surgeries. He has been involved in the medical eye mission trips there since 1991, providing basic vision care for those underserved in the area. “Since 2012, I have been performing formal transplants,” he says. “I also go to Liberia, where I perform mainly glaucoma, cataract, and pterygium surgeries. Due to COVID-19, trips to Liberia have been suspended.”
“The most recent trip was to Nigeria in March 2021 where I performed 16 PKP surgeries in 3 days. One patient was 10 years old,” he says.
While transplants are a large part of the mission trips, Dr. Umana also takes time to train local physicians. There’s a substantial shortage of physicians with training in corneal transplantation in the area and an even greater shortage of eye tissue.
Saving Sight provides Dr. Umana with the corneal tissue for his trips. “Saving Sight has been a strong partner for corneal work. There’s no eye bank in Nigeria,” he adds.
To put this into perspective, there are about 50 million people in the region but no corneal surgeries are offered because there is not an eye bank in the country.
[Photos from Dr. Umana’s March 2021 Nigeria trip. Left: 10 year old transplant recipient.]
Saving Sight and Kansas Eye Bank Partnership Expands Mission Impact in Kansas
Wichita, Kan. (June 1, 2021) – Two Kansas-based eye banks have partnered, increasing their impact to save sight in communities throughout the state and beyond. As of June 1, Saving Sight and the Kansas Eye Bank & Cornea Research Center, Inc. have integrated operations and now operate a Wichita location as Kansas Eye Bank, a division of Saving Sight.
This partnership brings together two nonprofit organizations with a rich history of serving the community, ocular transplant physicians, vision researchers, and area hospitals. The two organizations have a shared mission to restore vision to individuals needing a corneal transplant while also fulfilling the wishes of Kansans to become eye tissue donors upon passing.
“We’re excited about what this new partnership means in providing sight to even more people across Kansas, the Midwest, and beyond,” said Tony Bavuso, CEO of Saving Sight.
Saving Sight provides donated corneal tissue for transplant, restoring sight to approximately 8 individuals each day. The addition of the Kansas Eye Bank’s Wichita facility to the Saving Sight system will add new donor hospitals to its network, setting the stage to increase the number of tissues the nonprofit provides to physicians for transplantation. Additionally, the new partnership will allow Saving Sight to expand its efforts in supporting the choice of eye donors and their families to leave a legacy through eye tissue donation.
Saving Sight currently operates four other facilities apart from its headquarters in Kansas City, Mo., including locations in St. Louis, Columbia, Mo., Springfield, Mo., and Springfield, Ill.
About Saving Sight
Saving Sight is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a mission to change lives by saving sight. Founded in 1960, Saving Sight has grown to become one of the nation’s leading eye banks and is focused on providing innovative solutions to its clinical partners. Headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., Saving Sight facilitates eye donation in Missouri, Kansas, and Illinois, impacting the lives of those both near and far through transplantation.
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Jeannette’s Legacy
In Memory of Jeannette Hendricks, 1980-2021
“We called her Nette and she was an awesome chick. Beloved by her family, and respected by peers. Nette was very intelligent and down to earth. She had a wonderful sense of humor and was very creative. She was always a joy to be around with a ready smile and laugh. She enjoyed going to the Downtown Farmers’ Market with her grandmother, shopping on Amazon, bossing her little brother around and trying new vegan culinary delights. Jeannette was recently the recipient of a corneal transplant in March 2021 and she received the corneal tissue from Saving Sight. She was looking forward to seeing life in a new way.” – Gina Wells, Nette’s Aunt
2020 Impact Report
Our Community Impact in 2020
For so many around the world and in the U.S., 2020 put the human spirit and resilience to the test. As part of our nation’s healthcare system and partner with hundreds of donor hospitals, Saving Sight was called to rise up to the need of helping others during this challenging and unprecedented time. As result of our hard work and care for our community, we were able to provide a huge impact in quality of life for others by facilitating the gift of restored vision.
Read more in our 2020 Impact Report below about the stories of those we were able to help last year.
Thanks to Corneal Transplantation, Fabric Artist Creates Beautiful Quilts Again
For Connie, the road to restored sight was a journey she wasn’t sure would happen. At first, a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) blood clot in her leg stopped the process and she had over six months of healing before she could try her eye surgery again. During her second scheduled appointment, COVID hit and shut down all elective surgeries. After waiting one and a half years, it seemed the third time was the charm, and Connie received her corneal transplants in June and August of 2020.
Awaiting Corneal Transplants
While healing from her DVT blood clot, Connie wasn’t sure if she would ever be able to have her corneal transplants because she was having trouble both walking and seeing. “I reached out to the Springfield Missouri Council of the Blind and they were a great help. They brought me magnifying glasses and books on tape through Woolford Library. Everything they do is free, and they even brought me the best sunglasses. It was so easy, and they were so kind – I appreciated it so much.”
Connie, 72, says she lives about an hour outside of Springfield on 100 acres and in a home she built about 40 years ago. The Council of the Blind came out to her house since she wasn’t able to drive. “I’m not ready to give up my land and my house. They helped me out enough that I can not only survive out here but thrive.”
Corneal Transplantation Experience
“For the last ten years, I had been dealing with Fuchs dystrophy. I think I could have lived with Fuchs a little bit longer, but my cataracts started to get really bad,” says Connie.
“My surgeon, Dr. Seagrave, was just exceptional and so was his nurse Barbara. My experience was a surgery that lasted about an hour and there wasn’t any pain involved.” Dr. Seagrave was able to perform her cataract surgery and corneal transplant surgery at the same time. “He said doing them together was the most efficient and it gave me less overall healing time. That’s why I like Dr. Seagrave, because I felt he was up to date in procedures. It was wonderful only having two surgeries instead of four.”
Life After Transplantation
“I can’t tell you how much it means to have my vision back.” Connie can get back to her fabric studio in her home. “I used to do a lot of intricate handwork. I love quilting and embroidery. I was noticing how bad my vision was getting because it was getting hard to see to do that. Now I’m able to do it again! I did an incredible quilt for my daughter this year with lots of precision cutting.”
Connie has also always been a huge reader and it was challenging for her not being able to read print. She’s happy to see to read again, though she still isn’t able to read regular print easily. She has been reading on a backlit Kindle since she was first diagnosed.
Connecting Through Saving Sight’s Correspondence Program
“I wrote a letter to the donor families. My whole philosophy of life is to just be grateful for what you have. When I had the corneal transplant, it was like getting a superpower. When this happened and it worked, I just realized how lucky I was. If somebody hadn’t donated corneas, I wouldn’t be able to see.”
“I decided to wait to write the letters until both transplants were done. I thought, what a heavy letter. I wanted to say thank you and tell them how much it really changed my life.”
Saving Sight Medical Director Shares Insights on Use of Serum Tears in Ocular Surface Disease
Joseph Tauber, MD, presented on the use of serum tears in March
On Wednesday, March 3, ophthalmologist and Saving Sight Medical Director, Joseph Tauber, MD, presented on using serum tears therapy in ocular surface disease. The webinar was hosted by Vital Tears, an organization that offers autologous serum tears to eye care professionals and their patients throughout the nation. Saving Sight is a co-founder of Vital Tears, and processes all orders for the serum tears in its laboratory.
Dr. Tauber has an in-depth understanding of the use of serum tears in patients with ocular surface disease, as he was an early adopter of using Vital Tears in his practice. During the webinar Dr. Tauber shared insights into how serum tears fit into a treatment plan for dry eye disease, as well how Vital Tears has simplified the process for patients and physicians.
In addition to serving as Saving Sight’s medical director, Dr. Tauber is a recognized authority in the field of ocular surface diseases, including dry eye. Avidly involved in research for almost three decades, Dr. Tauber has been a principal investigator in over 125 research studies of high-risk corneal transplantation, inflammation and allergic eye diseases, corneal infectious diseases and numerous studies related to dry eye syndrome.
If you’re interested in learning more about the innovative approach that Vital Tears is taking in partnership with Saving Sight to restore sight, visit www.vitaltears.org.
Stephanie’s Journey with Keratoconus
“I was diagnosed with keratoconus, which basically deteriorates your cornea,” says Stephanie. “I have the disease in both eyes, but my right eye ended up progressing a lot faster than my left and made it necessary that I have a cornea transplant.” She adds that though the thought of having her first cornea transplant was scary, it ended up being a pleasant experience.
“I got lucky and had one of the most compassionate surgeons from my area, Dr. Shachar Tauber. When I went in for my cornea consultation, I cried as I am young – I’m only 37. Going into it, it was very scary. I went in the day of my surgery feeling extremely nervous. After a few hours, everything went well, the old cornea was removed, and the new cornea put in. I left with a beautiful blue eye with 16 stitches. My son was amazed because I naturally have brown eyes and the next day, when taking the bandage off, I had a shiny new blue eye,” she says, adding her eye eventually turned back to her natural brown color.
“During my follow-up appointment, I opted to ask about my donor.” Stephanie learned her donor was a 59-year-old female. “I opted to write the family a thank you letter, but never received anything in return and that is ok because I just wanted them to know how grateful I was to them for the gift of sight.” She adds that prior to her transplant she hadn’t considered how much receiving a cornea transplant affects you mentally, especially considering how it impacts your vision.
“Many people only think about the main organs like hearts, lungs, kidneys, livers, but never really your eyes. You see, every day that I look out of my eye and I can see and I can’t help but think of my donor and her family. Because she and her family opted to be a donor, I now can see. I can see to craft, I can see to drive, I can see to work, and most importantly I can see to watch my son grow into a young man.”
“I don’t think people truly understand the importance of being an organ donor. It can help save lives, but it can also be just as important to someone else who needs an organ as small as a cornea…because of someone else I am able to see, and I will forever be grateful.”
Hospital Development: Their Role in the Donation Process
Saving Sight is committed to working with hospital partners across our region to facilitate the gift of eye donation. From supporting each donor family to maximizing every opportunity for donation to occur, we couldn’t make corneal donation and transplantation happen without our partners. A key component in our success in working with hospital partners lies in the work of our Hospital Development team.
Hospital Development (HD) is responsible for developing and implementing strategies to ensure Saving Sight and its donation partners carry out a lean and effective donation process, maximizing the opportunity for donation to occur. Our Hospital Development Managers oversee HD territories and manage relationships with assigned donor hospitals and other area partners that we work with to facilitate eye donation. They work with hospital staff from leadership to chaplains to nurses and physicians, and also work with medical examiners, coroners, investigators, funeral home directors, organ procurement organizations, and the general public.
Working with these partners allows the HD team to build and foster relationships that drives a strong foundation for donation. A large part of that is being a liaison and advocate for the partner and donation, as well as providing education opportunities on the process and about donation in general. Though our HD Managers meet with partners in their territory all year round, November and April are huge months for the team. November is Eye Donation Month and Saving Sight joins the Eye Bank Association of America and eye donation community in honoring and celebrating the gift of sight. April is National Donate Life Month and Saving Sight joins the Donate Life community and other organ, eye and tissue procurement organization nationally in honoring the legacy of organ, eye and tissue donors and celebrating the gift of life for recipients. Both observances allow our team to say a special thank you to our partners for their work in the journey and to share inspirational stories of hope and healing through donation with them.
Meet Our Hospital Development Team
Darcey Ross
Territory 1 & 2
816-255-1373
Kansas City, MO
Haley Lyne
Territory 3
417-569-1270
Springfield, MO
Tori Weiss
Territory 4
314-584-1712
St. Louis, MO
Hospital Development Territory Map
Jackie’s Story
“I was diagnosed with Fuchs Dystrophy in 2007, in 2010 I had corneal transplants in both eyes. In September 2020 I needed a cataract removed in my right eye which lead to another cornea transplant. I am so grateful for cornea donors. I wouldn’t be able to see without them.” 
Share Your Story with Saving Sight
Have you benefited from one of Saving Sight’s programs? If so, we would love to hear how it made an impact on your life. Each year, Saving Sight’s vision programs change thousands of lives, and our recipients’ stories are one of the most powerful tools we have to communicate our mission. When we can illustrate our mission well, we can help even more people.
If you’re interested in sharing your story for our communications, please fill out the form on this page to let us know a little bit more about your experience. Afterward, a Saving Sight representative will contact you with more information about how you can become an advocate for our sight-saving work.
In Memory, An Artist’s Gift
Kansas City artist, Gabriella Mountain, was most well known for her larger-than-life abstract sculptures, mosaics, and stained-glass pieces. As an artist, she was diverse in her craft, creating commissioned works throughout the Kansas City area, including the old Main Library’s mosaic floor at 12th and McGee and the stained-glass windows at the Whiteman Air Force base chapel. Gabriella lived a remarkable and storied life, beginning in Hungary in 1918. After fleeing from war-torn Europe at the end of World War II, she came to America and started her life and career as an artist in the City area.
Gabriella Mountain, via Dignity Memorial
Dragons repousse door, via KCStudio
While she was a well-established and awarded artist, Gabriella’s struggle with vision loss was lesser-known. After suffering from Fuchs’ Corneal Dystrophy for years, Gabriella received a sight-restoring corneal transplant surgery in March of 2013. While she was 95 years old, the transplant improved her vision, allowing her to continue creating beautiful works of art. In her later years, Gabriella transitioned from creating metal sculptures to abstract textile and fiber art.
After a long and beautiful life, Gabriella passed away in May 2020 at the age of 102. In gratitude for the gift of sight, she left a gift to Saving Sight to continue our work restoring sight to others. We remember Gabriella in memoriam for her vision as an artist and her vision to serve others by supporting Saving Sight.
If you are interested in making a gift to change lives by Saving Sight, please visit saving-sight.org/give or reach out to our communications team to discuss leaving your legacy with a planned gift.
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