White Cane Days: A Good Reason to Care about Sight
Bandages of Solidarity:
Cassidy’s stuffed animals show
their support after her surgery.
Thanks to the gift of a stranger, five-year-old Cassidy Myers is able to see again.
The puzzles that she loves to work will come together instead of driving her to frustration. Coloring between the lines has become a source of pride instead of an unbeatable challenge. And no more bumping into walls. With her sight and depth perception restored by a cornea transplant, Cassidy can now negotiate the family home in safety.
It had been more than a year since Cassidy began to complain that everything looked "scribbly." Doctors found an ulcer that was forming in her eye, but they couldn't diagnose its cause, and they couldn't cure it. As the ulcer worsened, the hole grew and scarred over. The ulcer also made Cassidy's eye extremely susceptible to infections from cold viruses, so her mother, Dawn, took her out of school and quit her own job to stay with her. Every hour, Mom administered a complicated series of eye drops, and Cassidy wore an eye patch day and night. They drove to Spokane to see doctors three times a week, but still nothing worked. Without intervention, Cassidy's eye would go completely blind.
Immediately after waking up from the surgery, Cassidy reported that things were clearer and that her world was colorful again. Her eyesight has continued to improve. "I can see so much better!" she tells her parents over and over, but they never fail to feel a new thrill at the words.
"We will never know the donor or the donor family, but they have given us the most beautiful gift," said Dawn. "They have given us the ability to look forward to the future."
