[nfb-talk] Utah Woman is 'Blind No More'

Tue Feb 13 13:15:17 CST 2007

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I agree.  I just think that one has to be careful when presenting such
unusual cures like the one mentioned in the article.  It's too easy for
reporters to write it like they had no life, but thanks to the operation,
they now have one.  This article wasn't too bad, but the potential is
definitely there.

Aaron

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Skype: cannona
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- ----- Original Message -----
From: "Joe Orozco" <jsorozco at gmail.com>
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 13, 2007 12:02 PM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Utah Woman is 'Blind No More'

>    While I think it essential for people to learn to cope with, adapt, and
> perhaps even embrace their blindness,  I do not find it reprehensible at
> all
> to spend time and resources on finding preventative treatment.  If my
> future
> children could run the risk of losing their sight as well, I would want
> doctors to find the means to avoid the possibility.  I am comfortable with
> my blindness, but I think the universal idea should always be to make
> things
> easier for our up and coming generations.  Blindness, empowering though it
> might make us feel within the movement, can be difficult and expensive.
> No
> one should have to be exposed to our circumstances if it can be avoided.
>
>          Joe Orozco
>
> "It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees."--Emiliano
> Zapata
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Aaron Cannon" <cannona at fireantproductions.com>
> To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 13, 2007 10:10 AM
> Subject: [nfb-talk] Utah Woman is 'Blind No More'
>
>
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>> Oh boy... here we go.  Another helpless soul has managed to throw off the
>> shackles of darkness and doom.  (In case you missed it, press insert
>> control
>> shift s to put Jaws into sarcasm mode, and reread the previous sentence.)
>>
>>
>> http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=888609
>>
>> Utah Woman is 'Blind No More'
>> February 12th, 2007 @ 10:00pm
>>
>> Ed Yeates Reporting
>>
>> A 35-year-old woman who was born blind can see tonight, thanks to a
>> remarkable surgery performed in Utah.
>>
>> Though Kristen O'Neil had been told it couldn't be done, she now is blind
>> no
>> more. Ed Yeates shows us more in tonight's special report.
>>
>> Kristen O'Neil's blindness would have looked something like this: Even in
>> full light, a person in front of her would appear as a moving sheet of
>> nothing.
>>
>>
>> Ophthalmologist Dr. Alan Crandall describes it this way:
>>
>> Alan Crandall, M.D., Ophthalmologist: "Just one sheet. No distinguishing
>> factors. [She] couldn't tell where your coat ended, your tie started,
>> none
>> of it.
>> It would all be gone."
>>
>> But at the State Health Department cafeteria where she works with her
>> husband, who is also blind, Kristen now moves about. She is no longer
>> blind!
>>
>> "I was told by doctors all my life that they couldn't fix it."
>>
>> Fix what? Kristen was born with extremely small eyes. A section of her
>> iris
>> was missing, and what was there was dislocated, so light couldn't go
>> through
>> the center of her pupil.
>>
>> Part of her retina was missing, from the front all the way to back of the
>> eye. The eye lens was dislocated. She was also born with cataracts,
>> complicated
>> by the size of her eyes. By the time she was 14, they resembled those of
>> an
>> 80-year-old.
>>
>> Though impossible 10 years ago, Kristen's eyes now have literally been
>> rebuilt!
>>
>> "I was able to see the mountains for the first time. See across a field,
>> and
>> see buildings across there. That was really cool."
>>
>> Kristen O'Neil: "Being able to interact with people and be able to look
>> at
>> them face-to-face and eye-to-eye and have a conversation with them is
>> really
>> great."
>>
>> At the Eye Institute of Utah, Dr. Alan Crandall removed the cataracts.
>> Then
>> he began reshaping things. He made Kristen a new iris by implanting an
>> artificial
>> plastic iris right into her eye sac. Specially designed lenses were also
>> implanted to make up for the abnormally small eye. Both of Kristen's eyes
>> were
>> rebuilt.
>>
>> Dr. Crandall: "She should not lose what she has now. She should just
>> continue to improve over time."
>>
>> At home Kristen reads comfortably to her kids, a simple pleasure she
>> savors
>> now. And for her son...
>>
>> "Being able to read his music and teach him how to read music was
>> probably
>> the best, and interacting with the kids."
>>
>> Jim O'Neil, Kristen's Husband: "I'm just glad Dr. Crandall could help at
>> least one of us. I was a little bit worried at first because I've been
>> through
>> a lot of eye surgeries and none have worked out for me."
>>
>> But Jim O'Neil says the surgical magic came through for his wife, with
>> colors, hues, and detail.
>>
>> "Being able to ride my bike, take my kids for rides and stuff with me."
>>
>> Dr. Crandall: "The fact that she can ride a bike is pretty amazing. To
>> me,
>> that's amazing."
>>
>> Kristen's vision is not perfect, but it's good. Blind she is no more.
>> With
>> her delightful sense of humor she says, "It was really, I guess you would
>> say,
>> eye opening."
>>
>> The Division of Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired paid for
>> Kristen's remarkable surgery through its rehab program.
>>
>> For more information, read Lois Collins' story in tomorrow's Deseret
>> Morning
>> News and check the link above.
>>
>>
>>
>> Aaron
>>
>>
>> - --
>> Skype: cannona
>> MSN/Windows Messenger: cannona at hotmail.com (don't send email to the
>> hotmail
>> address.)
>>
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