Joe's improved vision procedure

For those of you who really know me, then you know that I was born with a vision impairment. It hasn’t ever stopped me from doing pretty much anything I wanted to do, except driving.

All my life I never thought, and my doctor's never thought, that something like this would be possible for me to have done that would truly improve my vision. However, after growing up and living with the little vision I have, I’ve learned to work with it and through it and now, something has finally become an available that will change my life.

Here is the situation. I have bilateral optic nerve hyperplasia, which basically means that my optic nerves never fully developed. This gave me severe near-sightedness, nystagmus, astigmatism, and other visual issues to boot. To use vision numbers, without glasses, my right eye alone is 20/2000 and my left is 20/1800. With glasses using both eyes, it can, on a good day, it can get to about 20/400. This means that I cannot drive, watch or read without my eyes getting extremely tired, or see clearly most days. I also have little to no distance vision and utilize what my doctors call strip vision. Imagine looking through a horizontal slat fence, and that's close to the visual acuity that I have always had and lived with.

Over the years, I've learned to figure out ways to just live and live as well as I can.

Very long story short, there is a procedure which is originally used for cataracts that has finally been given FDA approval to be used for other visual impairments. The procedure it called a Toric Lens implant replacement. Basically, my natural lenses in my eyes would be removed and replaced with synthetic lenses which places my current glasses prescription inside of my eyes. That would increase my vision ability dramatically, allowing for greater use in everyday life. It would even create the possibility of me being able to drive, at least during the day, after the proper tests and even more. I have no doubt.

This GoFundMe would fully cover the cost of the procedure and the new distance glassed would need to get once my eyes have fully healed.

Thank you so much for any help you can offer towards this endeavor, from the bottom of my heart.