WATCH: In part two of our behind-the-scenes look at the health care system we don’t see, we visit the facility that stores donated “eyes” for transplant.
Every delivery that comes in to the compact department on the bottom floor of Vancouver General Hospital is a special one because it holds the potential to change someone’s life.
From all around the province, eye tissue from donors and their families who have generously agreed to donate come to the Eye Bank of British Columbia.
As soon as the eye tissue arrives, the clock is ticking.
Within 16 hours from time of death, the corneas have to be removed from the globes, that’s the part that gives the gift of sight. The tissue then undergoes a rigorous evaluation to make sure it’s suitable for transplant.
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Last year, there were 532 eye donors in B.C., which turned into 922 transplants since up to eight people can benefit from one donor.
“We never transplant the whole eye, “says Shannon Leonard of the Eye Bank of BC. “It is portions of the eye. It’s the cornea..or we transplant the sclera, the white part of the eye.”
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There are more than 400 people currently waiting for a cornea transplant, usually because of a medical condition, often degenerative, or some kind of injury or trauma.
The Eye Bank of B.C. is the first in Canada to use a technique called DSAEK, essentially cutting donor corneas with a laser to isolate the functional part. That means the transplant surgery is less invasive and safer for the recipients.
Ideally, corneas are transplanted within a few days, changing the recipients’ lives forever. It can also change the lives of donor families, who are often grateful to be able to give such a precious gift.
“Talking to the donor families and having them thank us for being able to donate, that always surprises me,” says Leonard. “A lot of the time they think their loved one would have really wanted to do have done this. Knowing they are able to fulfill their wish really helps.”
For information on how to become a donor, visit the Eye Bank of British Columbia website.
-with files from Elaine Yong
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