Eye disease and vision loss affects millions across the globe. Today, more than 36 million people worldwide are blind, and another 217 million suffer from moderate to severe vision impairment.

Eversight is committed to advancing cures and finding new treatments for blinding eye diseases by connecting researchers with eye tissue to make important discoveries. The gift of eye donation to research “has fueled major advances in understanding the mechanisms of blinding diseases; however, during a time of some of the greatest discoveries in vision science, researchers face a shortage of human eye tissue as the number of eyes donated for research continues to decline” (JAMA Ophthalmology, 2016).

Eversight has designed a unique program that connects families of individuals who gave the generous gift of eye tissue with researchers working to cure eye diseases. We do this by facilitating correspondence and face‐to‐face meetings between the researcher who utilized the gift and the donor’s family. The Hope and Healing program celebrates the gift of donated eye tissue needed to cure vision loss by creating a path to healing for donor families. In addition, the program works to:

• Increase awareness and support for research
• Increase the number of people who join the Donor Registry and consent to research
• Provide researchers with the opportunity to make a connection between the gift and their important work
• Provide a source of healing, pride and empowerment to donor families

You can make a monetary donation to help support the Hope and Healing program. Your tax-deductible gift provides donor families the opportunity to connect with researchers across the world and see the impact their loved one has made on the future of sight restoration. Funds are also used to support the research efforts of vision scientists and the initiatives of Eversight to preserve and restore sight. Give now

“It wasn’t just one person Jennie was going to touch with those eyes, it was thousands.”
—Pamela Thurman, donor mother
See her story

“Instead of thinking of our son as a victim, I started thinking of him as a contributor to research, to science.”
—Sarah Gray, donor mother, research donation advocate and author
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“We didn’t understand the full impact of Tim’s donation,” Coleen said. “Now we realize what a legacy it truly is.”
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For more information about the Hope and Healing program, contact the programs manager Alexandra Teska at ateska@eversightvision.org or 734-780-2675.