[il-talk] The following article shows why our work in the NFB is so important.

Wed Feb 1 01:54:24 UTC 2012

I also have two words, but they are not able to be spoken on this 
list.  That had to be one of the most sickening pieces of garbage I 
have ever read.

At 07:05 PM 1/31/2012, you wrote:
>I have two words, oh, dear.
>
>Connie
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: il-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:il-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>Behalf Of Jemal Powell
>Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2012 6:44 PM
>To: Il-talk at nfbnet.org
>Subject: [il-talk] The following article shows why our work in the NFB is so
>important.
>
>
>
>
>----- Forwarded Message -----
>From: NFB-NEWSLINE Online <nfbnewsline at nfb.org>
>To: Jemal Powell <derek2872 at yahoo.com>
>Sent: Sunday, January 22, 2012 7:01 PM
>Subject: Article from Chicago Tribune News 2012 01 22
>
>
>An unexpected torch in the dark \ Nearby friends brighten life of woman
>whose world was dimmed by vision woes. By Vikki Ortiz Healy, Tribune
>reporter. Last month, in a third-floor unit of an unremarkable beige brick
>apartment building in Schiller Park, Janice Gurvey was going blind. .
>Doctors had earlier warned her that cataracts would gradually take her
>eyesight, but the fog moved in quickly. Within weeks, the woman, in her
>mid-40s, had to stop cooking and driving. Within two months, she fell in the
>shower, unable to pick herself up. That was when her neighbors revealed
>themselves as the kind of people few, perhaps, are lucky to experience. The
>family next door took out her garbage and took Gurvey hot meals. A friend a
>short drive away visited daily to do laundry and feed her cats. Another down
>the street drove her to doctors appointments and called every hospital and
>eye center in Chicago, desperately searching for somebody who could help. I
>don't know
>  what usually happens to someone who has no money and no insurance and can't
>see and has no family in the area," said Dr. Brian Proctor, an
>ophthalmologist at Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, who said he'd never seen
>anyone so young lose vision so quickly. Society, I think, would've just put
>her in the nursing home to get her out of the way," Proctor said. But they
>didn't. Her neighbors took care of her. Gurvey and officials at the Melrose
>Park hospital hope the story will spread a little warmth during the cold
>days of winter. There's not enough words in this world to make up for what
>they did," she said. In the last few months of 2011, Gurvey felt her life
>sink deeper and deeper into a hole. Once a vibrant cashier at a grocery
>store, she was let go when her failing eyesight led to mistakes reading
>customers' coupons, she said. Her longtime live-in boyfriend, who covered
>the bills, offered to pay for surgery to repair her vision. But in October,
>a stroke left
>  him unable to move his left side. He, too, had to stop working and moved
>into a nursing home for rehabilitation. Gurvey was left alone in their
>one-bedroom unit, where her eyesight deteriorated rapidly. She began
>counting the stairs in the building -- 13 for the first flight, 12 for the
>next -- to keep from falling. She ate lunch-meat sandwiches for every meal
>because she no longer could see the dials on the stove. Unless people were 6
>inches from her face, she couldn't see their expressions, Gurvey said. It's
>the worst feeling," she said. For 45 years, you're so used to seeing stuff.
>I would sit here and I could have all the lights on, but it would be like
>pitch black. Cataracts are a common condition in which the lens of the eye
>becomes cloudy, leading to loss of vision that typically worsens with age,
>Proctor said. Although most cataracts begin about age 60, they can happen
>sooner, said Proctor, who has been in practice for 17 years. Most people
>have
>  the condition repaired with routine surgery, in which the damaged lens is
>replaced with an artificial one. Proctor does 10 to 15 surgeries a week.
>Doctors detected early signs of cataracts in Gurvey's eyes in October 2010,
>but her condition rapidly deteriorated a year later. Stress, which reached a
>high in Gurvey's life after her boyfriend had the stroke, is known to speed
>the deterioration, Proctor said. Without a job or health insurance, Gurvey
>knew surgery that costs $3,500 an eye was not an option. She said she had
>fallen behind on rent and began having panic attacks wondering what would
>happen to her. You live by yourself and you're used to feeding the cats and
>taking a shower and going to work. And I couldn't do any of that by myself,"
>she said. I eventually thought I'd have to go to a nursing home. About that
>time Agnes Zak, who lives next door, noticed Gurvey scrambling to catch her
>cat Buster when the pet escaped into the hallway. Zak's heart
>  ached as she watched Gurvey grab at thin air because she couldn't see the
>pale tan animal. After Zak helped retrieve the pet, she began regularly
>dropping off hot meals such as pork and sauerkraut. She told Gurvey to leave
>her garbage bags at their doorstep so she wouldn't have to stumble to the
>garbage bin. And Zak's husband gave Gurvey rides to visit her boyfriend. I
>was raised that way, to give, to help," said Zak. I would expect someone to
>help me if I was in that situation. Similar reasons inspired James
>Staublein, of Des Plaines, who knew Gurvey through her boyfriend. Staublein
>checked on her as he drove by her apartment a few months ago. His timing was
>perfect. Gurvey had just slipped in the shower and was lying there frozen in
>fear until Staublein called on her cellphone. After Staublein let himself
>in, he vowed to visit her almost daily to feed her cats, clean her apartment
>and give her rides wherever she needed to go. As Gurvey's eye condition
>  worsened, Staublein and his wife, Dianne, took her into their home so they
>could look after her around the clock. Staublein knows other people might
>not have gone to the same lengths, but he said there was no other option.
>Gurvey was in distress, he said: "We helped her out the best we could.
>Another friend, who did not want to be named for this article, made it her
>mission to find a doctor or eye center in the Chicago area that would
>perform cataract surgery at a discounted rate under a payment plan. She
>called dozens of hospitals and centers, pleading Gurvey's case until she
>reached Jeneen Santucci, the office manager at Gottlieb Eye Center, in
>Melrose Park. She knew what she was talking about," recalled Santucci. You
>could tell she'd been researching. Although Santucci wondered if the friend
>was exaggerating, she spoke with Proctor, who agreed to see Gurvey for a
>consultation on Christmas Eve. Minutes into the examination, Proctor said,
>it was clear
>  that Gurvey needed immediate attention. He discounted his fee by 50 percent
>and told Santucci to ask the hospital to lower its fees. And he squeezed her
>surgery into his packed end-of-the-year schedule. It's very unusual for me
>to see someone with cataracts that are that dense," Proctor said. To let
>somebody walk around like that, I think, is cruel. She needed to be taken
>care of, and that was just the right thing to do. Proctor said his staff
>members had tears in their eyes when they saw Gurvey's spirits lift almost
>instantly. Shortly after the 15-minute procedure, the colors that jumped out
>at Gurvey from the tile floor made her heart pound, she said. On the drive
>home, she pointed out signs for hotels near O'Hare International Airport
>that she could read again. A second surgery this month restored Gurvey's
>vision in both eyes to 20/20. Back to health, she recently began working
>again two days a week as a runner at a restaurant. Gurvey's surgeries
>  were paid for by contributions collected by her friend and by strangers on
>Facebook. At night, she returns to Apt. 3D in that nondescript beige brick
>building, where she is overwhelmed whenever she thinks about all the people
>who helped her stay there. And this month, she celebrated her 46th birthday
>with perfect vision. I was able to see my cake, candles and the faces of my
>friends," said Gurvey. I didn't know what to wish for as I blew out the
>candles, because I knew my wish had already been granted." ----------
>vortiz at tribune.com 2012 0009 120122 N S 0000000000 00002586. ILLUSTRATION:
>Photo(s). Photo (color): Janice Gurvey, right, 46, got a helping hand from
>neighbor Agnes Zak, center, with her daughter Dominika, 10. Zak and her
>husband cooked, cleaned and ran errands for Gurvey. Photo (color): Dr. Brian
>Proctor says of Janice Gurvey's situation: "I don't know what usually
>happens to someone who has no money and no insurance and can't see and has
>no
>  family in the area. ... Her neighbors took care of her. Photo (color):
>Janice Gurvey was going blind before getting surgery for a rare form of
>cataracts. She now has 20/20 vision PHIL VELASQUEZ/TRIBUNE PHOTOS\. This
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