Seeing eye to eye: Two men know benefits of cornea transplants

Terry Mages died in 2012, a willing donor whose organs couldn’t be used because she had cancer.

Her corneas, though, helped improve the vision of two other people, a fact her family has taken solace in since her death, said her husband, Randy Mages, of Aberdeen.

The corneas could be used for transplants because blood does not run through them as it does organs, Mages explained.

Bob Karst, of Aberdeen, was on the receiving end of a cornea transplant. For four or five years until 1992, the vision in his right eye was deteriorating as the result of a disease. It reached the point where he could only make out light and dark. But since the transplant, his vision has been near normal.

“The concern was it was going to spread to the other eye, but it didn’t,” said Karst, who was on a waiting list for three months before getting a call informing him there was a matching transplant. 

Before the procedure, he could still drive and work and do other daily activities with his good eye, but the transplant expanded his range of vision.

“With one eye, I’m sure there’s a lot of stuff that a guy missed,” he said. 

Lions members

Both men are members of a local Lions chapter and both help with the group’s cornea transplant committee. Simply put, they help get the corneas of local donors to the South Dakota Lions Eye and Tissues Bank in Sioux Falls.

Ward Schumacher, of Aberdeen, is also a member of the committee. He explained the process. Somebody on the committee will get a call from the eye bank in Sioux Falls, then pick up the corneas and either drive or fly them to Sioux Falls. The calls generally come from funeral homes or hospitals from Mobridge to Britton, he said.

From the Sioux Falls eye bank, the corneas are sent to somebody who needs a transplant. First, the eye bank looks for a qualified recipient in South Dakota, then regionally, then nationally and, if needed, internationally, Mages said.

The corneas are evaluated, checked for infections and other problems and given a grade to help find the right match, he said. For instance, he said, a cornea from a 70-year-old wouldn’t likely go to a 20-year-old.

A former surgical technologist at Avera St. Luke’s Hospital in Aberdeen, Mages said there are a number of reasons a cornea might begin to fail:

• A virus or bacteria can make the clear shield over the eye cloudy.

• An eye injury could damage it.

• It could be mis-shaped by a disease, restricting or eliminating vision.

Publicity spike

After former governor and U.S. Rep. Bill Janklow died in 2012, there was a spike in publicity concerning cornea transplants because Janklow was a donor, Schumacher said. But many people still don’t know that corneas can be donated, he said.

“There’s a shortage of tissue,” he said.

Helping with cornea transplants is a good fit for the Lions as one of the service group’s prime focuses is improving vision.

One donor can benefit two receivers with two corneas, Mages said. It helps people who receive the transplants restore their vision while providing a sense of healing for family members of the donors,he said.

Karst said he was told  his cornea came from a 44-year-old Nebraska man. He was notified that the man was on life support on a Thursday and his transplant was a Saturday in Aberdeen. Now, all South Dakota transplants are done in Sioux Falls.

Generally, transplant recipients don’t learn who their donors are. For one thing, there are privacy concerns, Schumacher and Mages said.

Schumacher said there’s no difference between donating corneas and donating organs. A donor’s desire, though, needs to be noted on his or her driver’s license or identification card, and he or she must notify family members.

“You have the power to donate and it starts with your driver’s license, but your family must be on board and know of your wishes,” Schumacher said.

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Corneal transplant statics involving donors from South Dakota, southwestern Minnesota and northern Nebraska.

2014 through April

• Eye/cornea donors: 169

• Transplants in South Dakota: 62

• Transplants in the United States: 51

• Transplants internationally: 96

2013

• Eye/cornea donors: 425

• Transplants in South Dakota: 201

• Transplants in the United States: 111

• Transplants internationally: 331

2012

• Eye/cornea donors: 521

• Transplants in South Dakota: 210

• Transplants in the United States: 144

• Transplants internationally: 344

Source: South Dakota Lions Eye and Tissue Bank

Percent of population designated as donors on driver's license or identification cards

• Brown County: 48 percent

• Campbell County: 48 percent

• Day County: 47 percent

• Edmunds County: 41 percent

• Faulk County: 36 percent

• Marshall: 48 percent

• McPherson County: 38 percent

• Potter County: 49 percent

• Roberts County: 40 percent

• Spink County: 44 percent

• Walworth County: 41 percent

• Statewide: 55 percent

• North Dakota: 68 percent

• Minnesota: 61 percent