THE SHORT STORY

“Isn’t it amazing how you can meet thousands of people and they really don’t have any impact on you but then you meet one person who can change your life forever?
 

Several decades ago as a kid, trying to figure out life, a man by the name of Tim Ormond walked into my life. He taught me to laugh, enjoy life, dream big, and a few pretty cool skills. But without me even knowing it, most importantly, he taught me, in a very difficult season, how to believe in myself.
He gave me a confidence that would end up impacting so many decisions in my life moving forward. One of those decisions was starting a church called Cross Point here in Nashville over 15 years ago.
 

My friend Tim had a huge impact on my life and so many others because he was incredibly generous with his time, knowledge, and love.
And now Tim needs our help. He’s tragically lost the vision in his right eye due to glaucoma and has limited vision in his left. His hope of ever seeing clearly again seemed an empty dream but with your help we can actually help him get a device called eSight (see video at the end) that can give him back a substantial part of his vision!!
 

Would you consider helping Tim? I know that helping one person may not change the world but it could change the world for that one person.
 

If you feel led to help with a donation or to simply share this page with others, you have our gratitude. Thanks for stopping by and never forget that one life, one conversation, and one act of generosity can actually change a life forever!”

I first met Tim in 2006 when my son Bleu was in a short film called Following Reason. Tim was working on the project. I didn’t know then, but our lives would later become so entangled.

The next time I saw Tim was at Film-Com, a business market for film projects that our mutual friend Andy Van Roon created. Tim was the webmaster, I was doing fundraising, and Bleu helped wherever he was needed. We all became fast friends, and when Andy told me Tim was without a place to live due to the 2010 Nashville floods I called him and said he was welcome at our house.

Since then we’ve worked together on multiple projects–for Film-Com, a TV pilot for Bleu and many other dreams we’re still trying to realize.

When Tim began to lose his vision I was worried about him. But he seemed to be in good medical hands. I had no idea that glaucoma was so damaging, but I’ve learned a lot watching him go through all the procedures, which included a shunt placed in his left eye to relieve pressure.

Tim and Bleu have become close friends–and I guess, to some degree, Tim has become like a father figure / good buddy. I’ll often hear them laughing together, with no real idea of what the joke is. When Bleu came home recently he told me about a service called eSight, and that maybe, just maybe it could help Tim. With that, he was off to tell him the news.

I had no idea at that moment how expensive eSight was. Which is why I started this campaign for Tim. If you’d like to help him regain at least some of his useful vision, read his story below and consider making a donation. Thanks for reading, Sharri


I suppose I now understand the phrase “good health is a gift you don’t really appreciate till you lose it.” Going from 20/20 vision to being blind in my right eye along with having the sight in my one good eye degenerate to 20/200 in my left eye has been a struggle. Here briefly is my journey.

My life has been based on my eyesight: being a photographer, making movies, writing scripts—not to mention my passion, flying. All of this came to an abrupt halt from having severe glaucoma.

I first noticed that something was wrong shortly after the Nashville floods of 2010. I then lived in Ashland City, Tennessee, renting an apartment from the Lynn Ray family for three years.

They were good people and I became part of the family. When the floods came, it was a time when all of us worked together to survive and rebuild. The picture below is the house I lived in. My apartment was on the first floor–and what you see in the photo is the second floor, meaning my area was completely underwater.

I lost a lot in the flood, and so did many others, many much more than myself.

After the cleanup, as I was walking one evening with my cocker spaniel, I noticed what seemed to be a cloud at the edge of my vision. Turning to see it better, I did not find anything but clear skies. I’d find out later this cloud in my eye was the beginning of glaucoma starting its attack on my vision.

I later moved to Kingston Springs renting space from Sharri Morrison, the person kind enough to start this campaign. Over years now I’ve watched her son Bleu grow into a man, and we’ve become close. I’m convinced that he’ll be a star one day. Plus he writes with such brilliance. Few, certainly not me, can touch his talent. Go for it, Bleu.

During this time my vision–which I’d hoped would clear up–instead worsened. My good friend Andy van Roon, (he’s more like a brother) arranged for me to visit Dr. Ming Wang. It was then I was diagnosed with glaucoma. Weeks later he arranged treatment for me with Dr. Melissa Toyos, and that is where my glaucoma journey began in earnest.

Dr. Melissa made valiant attempts to cure my glaucoma with a multitude of drops, laser treatments, cataract surgery, and basically everything she could think of, but nothing worked. During that time I became blind in my right eye. I managed to get through that part with a bit of depression, but a lot of anxiety, because nowI had only one working eye–and my glaucoma was still on the rise with the pressure of 50+ (the norm is 10).

I have to be completely honest and admit that I was scared of losing the sight in my left eye and going completely blind. After two years of trying everything, Dr. Melissa said she could do no more, and that I needed to see a glaucoma specialist and maybe have a shunt placed into my left eye to relieve the pressure–and hopefully save the vision that remained, which seemed to be declining.

While I tried to soldier on, but I’ll admit I was depressed and scared about the future–“What will I do if I became completely blind?” I didn’t have an answer. Researching the cost of the shunt surgery, it was well beyond my means. And since I didn’t have health insurance, my prospects seemed dim, but God had a plan.

While I won’t mention his name–he’ll be reading this and he knows—a friend and his wife prayed, asked for God’s guidance, and they decided that they would underwrite the cost of my surgery–but only if I’d see another doctor for a second opinion. I did, visiting, my friend’s doctor Dr. Gary Jerkins—who, after looking at my eyes, said, and I quote, “You’re a ticking time bomb and could go completely blind at any time.” Then he turned to my friend, who had come to the exam with me, and asked, “Can you get him to Memphis by tomorrow?”

Dr. Jerkins’ son is a glaucoma specialist with a practice in Memphis, and, through the urging of the senior Dr. Jerkins, agreed to see me the next day. My friend said yes, and at seven o’clock the next morning we were on route to Memphis to see Dr. Brian Jerkins, who was personable, professional and kind-hearted. After a complete pre-exam with endless questions and multiple tests, Dr. Brian recommended an Ahmed glaucoma valve, and surgery was scheduled for the following morning. The surgery went fine, and it’s now over a year later and the glaucoma has, as Dr. Brian put it, “been licked.”

Unfortunately for me, while the pressure was abated and further optic nerve damage was halted–or at least slowed down, Dr. Brian told me it was unlikely any my vision would be restored and sadly, he was correct. My vision remains 20/200 and my right eye remains blind (not passing light), meaning the optic nerve had died from the obsessive inner ocular pressure (which is what glaucoma is).

It took awhile, but I came to grips with my disability and knew I had to move on and make a living, but what could I do? I could no longer drive and my former web design skills would be difficult to use. Over time I adapted, using a magnifier on my PC, typing with a large font (like I’m doing here), along with getting rides to the market or walking to a convenience store about one mile away. Essentially life was more difficult, but I was adapting to my limitations.
I was talking with Karen at Hummingbird Productions where I intern and mentioned that Tim had difficulty doing web work due to his vision. Without missing a beat she said, “Have you heard of eSight?” I hadn’t, but as she described it, it sounded like an episode of Star Trek! I figured, ‘hey, it was worth taking a look at.’ So I called my mom on the way home and told her.

I didn’t want to get Tim’s hopes up too much. When I knocked on his door we greeted each other with a “What’s up?,”our standard greeting. After his dog Noah settled down a bit (he’s prone to jumping all over me), I mentioned eSight. We both turned to Google, clicked to their site, then headed to Youtube. What we were looking at was unbelievable if it actually worked.

I told him, “If you book an appointment, I’ll drive you to Nashville.” And two days later we were sitting on the 20th floor of a building in downtown Nashville getting ready for what’s called the eSight experience. The eSight girl ushered us into her office. There sat the unit, which looks a little like something Cyclops would wear in X-Men. She began to explain how it worked and some of the history.

I’m not going to bore you with the details, but when Tim put it on and looked around, I could see what he was seeing on her iPad. I wasn’t impressed at first, but she would quickly change that. She asked if he could see the number chart across the room (which he couldn’t see without the unit), he said “yes.” She asked him what line he could read. I forget which one it was, I think there third or fourth one down.

Then the magic happened. She zoomed in to the very bottom line–I couldn’t even see that one. But Tim could, and he read off the numbers to us. Then Tim picked up an envelope he brought along and read the return address which was very small type. Before that he’d have to ask my mom or me to read any letters he got. The eSight woman explained that you can change contrast, zoom, and focus until you can pretty much see any sized type clearly. After almost an hour of practice, two cups of coffee for Tim, and a whole lot of questions, we left to find my mom and our ride home. It was fun to see Tim smiling, and talking about the device.

Curious if They Actually Work?  They Do!

Take a look at this YouTube video

https://youtu.be/OYzP_RgXrIE

How The Money Will Be Used

The actual cost for the eSight glasses is $9,999. Any additional funds raised over the basic costs will be used toward upgrades, batteries, and accessories over the following calendar year.