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My Partial Cornea transplant in TO

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Hi everyone, thank you so much for your time in considering to donate to my medical cause.

Chances are that this is probably the very first time that you may have heard that I had an urgent eye situation come up.

For me, getting on here and doing a Go Fund Me page was not an easy choice.  I like most of you do not like having our hand out looking for money, even for really important things like urgent medical care.  

But sometimes, one has to swallow their pride and ask for help.

I will try my best to keep this short and to the point.  I have been diagnosed with a condition called Fuchs' Dystrophy.  To put it in laymen's terms, a part of the cornea of the eye is dying.  I noticed that my vision was changing back in 2014.  I would describe the vision issue like what photographers refer to as a "STAR" filter.  It's used to soften an image or to make lights have a halo around them.  For the longest time, I thought I had dry eyes.  I even bought Refresh natural tears thinking that this would help.

However, when I was diagnosed with Fuchs Dystrophy, I realized that I had the opposite of Dry eye.  The cornea was less effective at expelling excess water from my eye.  This was the root of my recent issues.

The long-term prognosis for me if not treated would be the eventual formation of blisters on the cornea which would be quite painful against the underside of the eyelid and a constant haziness as if I was in a steam filled room 24/7.   At this point, I literally would be reduced to using a white cane and it would mean a major change in my life.

However, there is good news here.  Over the past 25 years, research has been done to treat this condition with amazing results.  This procedure involves having a partial cornea transplant.  Up until recently, the entire cornea had to be transplanted.  This has a higher rejection rate over the procedure that I am having.  In fact, what used to require months of healing now only takes days to a few weeks at the most.

This is where I'll need your help.

This surgery is not done here in Newfoundland and Labrador.  While we had the medical assistance program that covers expenses in relation to the expenses in having to have a procedure done out of province, it only covers so much.  From what I can tell, I will require at least 2 trips to Toronto.  The first will be on January the 25th of 2018.  This should be a check up to see what the situation is.  While I am sure that my eye doctor had done a capable job at gathering diagnostic information to be sent up away, the surgeon would probably want to do their own tests before putting blade to eye.

Anyway, please feel free to drop a loony or 2 in the hat.  Any help would go a long way and would be greatly appreciated by me and my family.

Thank you in advance for caring.

Shane,
Nicole & Peyton Cashin

Some information on Fuchs Dystrophy

Organiser and beneficiary

Shane Cashin
Organiser
St. John's, NL
Nicole Hapgood
Beneficiary

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