For over 30 years, Barbara has made a difference in the lives of her students, first as an elementary public school teacher and later at the university level where she trained elementary, early childhood and special education educators to teach children at the most...

When Alla was in school, she loved to play softball. Growing up in a small Kansas town in the 1920s, there wasn’t a girls’ team for her to play on. Short on players, Alla found herself playing catcher for the boys’ team. “The grandkids get a kick that grandma played...

As a manager, husband, father and grandfather, Steve was missing out on seeing many things in life. As his vision worsened, he thought he might need a stronger prescription. When Steve went to the eye doctor in 2012, they determined he had an eye condition called...

Gentry came into the world completely blind. Born with congenital glaucoma and a protruding left cornea, Gentry had her first eye surgery when she was just two days old and received her first cornea transplant at one month to reconstruct her left eye and correct...

For Jamie from Branson, Missouri, cornea transplantation has been a truly life-enhancing experience. Jamie works for Tantone Industries, a nonprofit sheltered workshop that provides meaningful work opportunities to people like Jamie who have developmental...

Dorothy was born and raised in Washington, Missouri. Not only has she lived her entire life in Washington, but she spent a considerable portion of her time working in the town’s hospital, what is today known as Mercy Hospital Washington. Dorothy first worked as a...

Anne is an artist who resides in Gladstone, Missouri, a municipality in the Kansas City area. Now retired, she focuses on creating artwork for her friends and acquaintances, and she is active in her community as the planning commissioner. In 1980, however, Anne was...

“Five or six years ago, when I renewed my driver’s license, I almost failed the vision test. They told me I wouldn’t pass the next time,” said Sue of Grandview, Missouri. “So I decided to see an ophthalmologist for an eye exam before my next driver’s test.” However,...

Bill, a retired operating room RN from Topeka, Kansas, knew he was at-risk to develop Fuchs’ corneal dystrophy. Causing an inner layer of the cornea to blister and cloud, Fuchs’ dystrophy is a hereditary disease, and it ran in his family. Bill’s mother and grandmother...