You're Helping MEEI -- How is MEEI Helping Others?

Peters' Anomaly is a congenital disease that results in bilateral opacity of the corneas; cataracts and glaucoma can also be present, resulting in impaired vision. Four years ago, on the small Caribbean island of Barbados, Nathan Lewis was born with the disease. His vision was near 20/2000 in both eyes; he could only see light.

Nathan’s lack of vision affected his development and he used a walker to move around. Desperate to find help, his family first visited MEEI about a year and a half ago for medical treatment. An unfortunate fact is that cornea transplants often fail with this disease, and the first attempts to correct Nathan’s vision in the left eye were less than successful.

But his devoted parents, ever holding out hope that MEEI ophthalmologists could help Nathan, urged another attempt at giving him sight. His father left his job to travel to Boston so that Nathan could receive medical treatment.

With the support of the hospital’s International Office and Social Work Department, along with financial assistance from the Ray Tye Medical Aid Foundation, Dr. Shizuo Mukai placed a scleral buckle in Nathan’s right eye in September 2007 to reduce his risk of a retinal detachment. In later surgeries, Dr. Kathryn Colby removed the cataract from this eye, surgically implanted a Boston Keratoprosthesis (KPro), also known as an “artificial cornea,” and replaced the lens in the eye.

After the operation, Nathan began to walk on his own for the first time. The MEEI Optical Shop has donated eyeglasses to Nathan, whose vision is now 20/89. After several months in Boston, his mother and father will return to Barbados with Nathan, who will now be able to see his home for the first time, thanks to help provided by Ray Tye and a team of dedicated professionals at MEEI. “It is very difficult to restore vision in children with corneal scarring using traditional corneal transplantation techniques,” Dr. Colby said. “The Boston KPro offers hope for rapid visual recovery in these patients. Our entire team is thrilled with Nathan’s progress. This is truly a major advance in the care of children with corneal diseases such as Peters’ Anomaly.”

Dr. Kathy Colby, one of the many professionals at MEEI that helped Nathan see again,

in the clinic with Nathan and his parents, Kery-Ann and Mark.

MEEI Social Worker Lynda Ketcham gives Nathan a “Perkins Panda”
donated by the Lions Clubs International and the Perkins School for the Blind.

Money makes you happy - if you spend it on others

An article in today's Boston Globe states that new research proves that money can make you happy - if you spend it on someone else. Therefore you are helping others by asking them to donate to a good cause, which helps others -- Mass. Eye and Ear -- for your sponsorship for the Boston Marathon.

From the article: "There's so much benefit to the person who contributes to others that I often think that there is no more selfish act than a generous act," said Tal Ben-Shahar, author of the book "Happier" and teacher of the positive psychology course on happiness that is Harvard's most popular class.

It's a very interesting article. See the whole article here: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/03/21/money_makes_you_happy___if_you_spend_it_on_others/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Massachusetts+news

$63,958.72

Team Eye and Ear's 60 members have currently collectively raised $63,958.72 for the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary to help fund hope for those individuals suffering from eye, ear, nose, throat, head and neck disorders.

Way to go team!!! Our goal is $200,000. There are 3 months left for fundraising (you have until May 21, 2008 to get all of your fundraising money in)!!

Kick-Off Party!

Thank you to those who made it out to the kick-off party last night!

Here are some select photos from the evening.

Team Eye and Ear members with Bill Rodgers

Teammates Suzi Reynolds, Matt Benvenuti, and Peggy Kelley with Bill Rodgers

Team Eye and Ear member and MEEI OR Nurse, Peggy Kelley, with Bill Rodgers

Teammates Helen Drown and Mary Grzybinski

Teammates Emily Stear, Dana Brundage, and Danielle Dreger

Teammates Alexandria Papa and Alex Pierson

A few ways your sponsors can have a MAJOR impact...

Current Focus Project/Centers of Excellence:

• Hearing Preservation and Restoration: to preserve and to restore hearing using stem cells/new drugs and delivering them safely to the inner ear.
• Glaucoma Center of Excellence: to preserve vision of glaucoma patients through developing methods for earlier detection as well as new treatments, specific to each, individual and patient, and new patient programs for genetic screening and early diagnosis.
• Thyroid and Parathyroid Surgical Oncology Center of Excellence: to transform surgical care of patients with thyroid/parathyroid cancers by developing safer, better surgical techniques and devices, disseminating their adoption globally, and training future global leaders.
• Balance Center: to develop comprehensive, ame day diagnostic capabilities as well as treatment programs for each kind of balance problem, and new devices to help patients maintain stability.
• Tinnitus Center: to clinically characterize the different kinds of tinnitus and develop safe, effective treatments for them.

Here are a few ways your sponsors/donors can have a major impact in directly improving the lives of others. Invest in.....

• Hearing Research and hearing can be restored for millions within 20 years.
• Glaucoma Center of Excellence and functional vision can be preserved for millions of patients within 10-25 years.
• Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) Center of Excellence and functional vision can be improved for millions of patients within 5 - 20 years.
• Balance Center of Excellence and dizzy patients can get accurate diagnosis quickly and will get targeted treatment; new devices will help millions maintain balance, avoid falls, injuries.

You might be interested to know....

Some very interesting distinctions that Mass. Eye and Ear holds.
(Share some of these with your sponsors to help increase your fundraising efforts!)

Distinctions:

• The Eaton-Peabody Laboratory at MEEI is the largest basic hearing research center in the world.
• Discovery of the first heritable cancer gene, most of the genese idenrified in retinitis pigmentosa, and some glaucoma genes.
• Primary teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School in Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology.
• MEEI's residency training programs in Orolaryngology and Opthalmology are among the most selective in the U.S.
• Discovery of the role of VEGF in age-related macular degeneration (AMD), leading to the first two FDA-approved drugs for treating AMD.
• Discovery of stem cells in the adult inner ear, which increases the potential of hearing restoration.
• First diagnosis of retinopathy or prematurity.
• First eye pathology laboratory in the U.S.
• First use of isolation to segregate patients with infectious diseases.

For those of you in the Boston area..

I just found this on the Boston Marathon website. For those around the Boston area, the B.A.A. and Adidas offers monthly runs in and around Boston for anyone training for the 2008 Boston Marathon. The group runs feature presentations, guest appearances by adidas athletes, product give-aways, and refreshments.

Group Run #1: Thursday, January 31st
Time: 6:00 p.m., with refreshments from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.
Location: Boston Marathon Finish Line & CharlesMark Hotel (655 Boylston Street)
Group Run #2: Thursday, February 28th
Time: 6:00 p.m., with refreshments from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.
Location: Boston Marathon Finish Line & CharlesMark Hotel (655 Boylston Street)
Group Run #3: Thursday, March 27th
Time: 6:00 p.m., with refreshments from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.
Location: Boston Marathon Finish Line & CharlesMark Hotel(655 Boylston Street)
Group Run #4: Thursday, April 10th
Time: 6:00 p.m., with refreshments from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.
Location: Boston Marathon Finish Line & CharlesMark Hotel(655 Boylston Street)

For more information, click here.

If anyone has done this in the past and has reviews of the program, feel free to leave comments for your fellow team mates.