[Blindtlk] [blindtlk] transplants

[Cheryl Echevarria]

President Carl Jacobsen, from the NFB of NY has Lebers.

Maybe reach out to him and discuss the eye diseases.

For myself who is a transplant survivor of a kidney, even though they are
different organs of the body, they still have to go through the same testing
and health issues, make sure you are well enough for your body as a whole to
receive a foreign organ.

The other thing is and we have had these discussions at our chapter, the NFB
of Greater Long Island, which I am the Vice President of, is that for
someone who may have been born without sight or limited sight, that having
something you never had would be a learning experience.

>From learning how to read, learning how to write. People think that oh wow
if I had a transplant than everything would be better for me. It might make
it worse.

Example: you have been blind your whole life, you are 40 years old and you
are offered this eye transplant that will give you sight.

Some of the things to think about.

1. I need to take transplant medications the rest of my life.
2. What is the transplant doesn't work or your body rejects it, I deal with
this on a daily bases.   It is not a cure transplant, it is a treatment.
They are not like cornea transplants 
3. Let's say you can see now what, sometimes your sight is distorted and may
not be able to see more than just a little bit.
Or if it is a lot, they you will need to go back to school, and learn to
read, write, do math, science, learn money, banking, grocery shopping.  Etc.

4. You would need someone to help in these areas, maybe even more than
someone who is blind. 

The medical profession is always thinking about how to fix things, not to
deal with things, in life.

When they can't they feel like they have failed.


Cheryl Echevarria, Vice President
National Federation of the Blind, Greater Long Island Chapter
A proud chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of New York State
631-236-5138
cherylandmaxx at hotmail.com
"Live the Life You Want"

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams. You can have the life you want;
blindness is not what holds you back.


Cheryl Echevarria is also the owner of Echevarria Travel
www.echevarriatravel.com; 631-456-5394 or reservations at echevarriatravel.com
and  has partnered with Braille Smith. www.braillesmith.com for all her
braille needs.  Gail Smith is the Secretary of the NFB of Alabama








-----Original Message-----
From: blindtlk [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Ineyda
Velasquez via blindtlk
Sent: Monday, November 10, 2014 3:56 PM
To: Blind Talk Mailing List
Subject: [Blindtlk] [blindtlk] transplants

Hi,
Someone asked me if I'd ever asked my eye doctor about getting a transplant
for the damaged parts of my eyes. Can that actually be done or does it
depend on the condition you have? I have Leber's congenital amaurosis.

Ineyda

Sent from my iPhone
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