THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 26, 1995 TAG: 9505240197
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY PHYLLIS SPEIDELL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 132 lines
GRADUALLY THE light started dimming in Elizabeth Butler's world.
She would read the newspaper with a magnifying glass, but she suffered horrible headaches from straining to see. She did less and less of the sewing and crocheting she had always loved to do.
Then, last Christmas, one her children asked Butler for a crocheted snowman, one of her specialties.
``I couldn't get it right,'' said the 62-year-old Fairwood Homes woman. ``I realized then I was going blind in that eye.''
Butler was too young to qualify for the Medicare benefits that cover her 76-year-old husband, and their fixed retirement income would not cover the cost of the cataract surgery she needed.
But last week a nationwide program called Mission Cataract helped bring color and light back to Butler's world, just as it has for seven other Hampton Roads residents.
Mission Cataract began in May 1991 when a California ophthalmologist offered free cataract surgery to 21 adults and children who had no means of paying for the surgery.
Two years later the project grew across the country and this year nearly 500 ophthalmologists representing 150 hospitals and surgery centers across the country will dramatically improve the vision of more than 1,500 people.
The project was available at two sites in Virginia this year. Locally, Tidewater Eye Surgeons and Associates offered to perform 10 free lens replacement surgeries to people with cataract impaired vision and minimal financial resources. The surgeries were all performed recently at the Center for Sight at Portsmouth General Hospital.
In addition to Tidewater Eye Surgeons and Portsmouth General Hospital, facilities and services to the project were donated by Poplar Hill Diagnostic Lab, Dr. Robert J. Marhalik, Better Vision Eye Glass Care and Alcon Inc., an optical supply firm.
Of the 15 persons who were screened for Mission Cataract surgeries here, eight met the physical and financial qualifications specified by the national program.
Butler met the physical requirements for Mission Cataract because her cataract was not correctable with eyeglasses and was interfering with the activities of her daily life.
``I could not even clean the house well because I could not see what I was doing,'' she said.
One of the things she noticed after the bandages were removed were the cobwebs on the bathroom ceiling.
But the first thing she saw after the bandages were off was the good friend who had taken her to the doctor.
``She's like a daughter to me and I looked at her and I couldn't believe it,'' said Butler. ``She looked like she used to a long time ago.''
And the one thing Butler couldn't wait to see was her newest grandchild, a 10-month old baby boy she had never seen clearly before.
She knew his eyes were blue, just not what a beautiful shade of blue they were. She had never even known the true color of his hair.
``He's really blond and it looked darker to me, but it's beautiful,'' Butler said less than a week after the surgery.
Butler doesn't have to explain how bright the world suddenly became to Margaret Justice, a 48-year-old widow who lives in Bennetts Creek.
For years, Justice had seen the world through the haze of cataracts that progressively clouded first her right eye and then her left eye.
Three years ago, surgery corrected one eye, and Justice remembers how vividly bright everything around her seemed the next day.
``It is the colors that you notice most - how very blue the sky is, how bright the flowers are,'' she said.
When she was laid off from her job as a bakery outlet store manager this winter, Justice was left without medical insurance and without the income to pay for the surgery that would restore vision to her left eye. She was also left without hope until a friend mentioned Mission Cataract.
``I have always been self-sufficient and I have never liked taking something for nothing,'' she said. ``But without insurance, this was something I needed to do.''
Minutes after her surgery, Justice was sitting up, smiling, and thinking how beautiful the blooms of her favorite yellow rose bush would look when the shield was removed from her eye the next day.
Doctors say that cataracts are a natural part of the aging process where the eye lens becomes cloudy and the ability to distinguish colors is diminished. Cataracts, however, can occur at any age. In many cases, such as Justice's, no-stitch surgery can be performed with the patient anesthetized but awake.
A tiny incision is made in the eye and sound waves are used to break up the cataract. The old lens is then suctioned out and a new plastic intraocular lens inserted in its place. The procedure takes about 20 minutes and can be performed on an outpatient basis with only a three-hour hospital stay. Cost estimates for the surgery and follow up care range upward from $2,500.
For Noreen Benoit, a Virginia Beach woman whose cataract left her able to distinguish only light and shadow with one eye, it was the little things.
Things like clipping her own nails, washing dishes by hand and being sure they are clean, even reading the prices on the TV shopping channels.
``I am not a homeless person, but I had no insurance and I would have to wait 18 months for Medicare,'' the 63-year-old widow said.
The results of her Mission Cataract surgery thrilled Benoit.
``You don't realize how blind you are until you can see right again.''
Like the others helped by the project, the world of John Peebles gradually faded away. The Virginia Beach photographer had managed to overlook his decreasing vision until about a year ago.
``I just began to shut down, to just not do things that were visually oriented and found myself making excuses,'' he said.
Peebles, 63 and self-employed, wondered how he could wait another two years for Medicare to cover the cataract surgery he could not afford. Then he saw a news story about Mission Cataract.
``It was a blessing that would change my life.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff color photo on cover by MARK MITCHELL
Dr. Dale Sponaugle performs cataract/lens replacement...
Staff photos by MARK MITCHELL
Elizabeth Butler of Portsmouth awaits the surgery that will restore
her sight to begin in an operating room of Portsmouth General
Hospital.
A television monitor shows the actual eye surgery. The doctor uses
magnifying equipment to view the procedure as he works.
Dr. Dale Sponaugle prepares to operate on the eye of Margaret
Justice of Suffolk. The operation is covered by Mission Cataract, a
national program that provides cataract surgery to those who cannot
afford it.
Margaret Justice rests in the recovery area after surgery, thanks to
Mission Cataract. The vision in her other eye was restored before
she lost her job and medical insurance.
KEYWORDS: CATARACT SURGERY by CNB