Pledge and Donate Eyes :: Gift Your Sight!

One of our HP offices in Bangalore wanted to host the Eye Donation/Pledging Awareness Camp for 2nd session, as many people had shown interest for the 1st session but could not make it due to various reasons.

So, yesterday (23-Sept-08) the Doctor from Prabha Eye Bank visited this office and we conducted this camp for nearly 3 hours...and the response that we got was just awesome...above all expectations! We collected nearly 125 pledges from the interested employees and hitting this 3-digit number is really a milestone by itself!

Again, Thanks to everyone who opted for this camp and I wish they will spread the word among their friends and families!

Yesterday, Deccan Herald carried a report on donation of her eyes by a lady, who died accidently, in Mysore. She not only gave sight to 2 corneally blind people but inspired many people to pledge their eyes for donation after death!

Let god rest her soul in peace and let her be more number of people like her, in the future! Hats off to that dear lady...

Here is the report:

In death too she opened many an eye...
From S Prashantha, DH News Service, Mysore: 
 
Even in her death, this woman not only helped two blind persons get sight, but also inspired nearly 50 people to pledge their eyes.

H S Madhumathi Halale (45), wife of H N Someshwara, a resident of Kalyanagiri, died when a branch of banyan tree fell on her while offering pooja along with family members on Sunday. Surprisingly, nobody, including her husband, in the house was aware of her pledging eyes. As relatives gathered to pay their last respect to the departed soul, their neighbour Prasad, who was aware of Madhumathi’s noble gesture, alerted Someshwara.

Prasad then called B S Madhura, the Executive Director of the Mysore Eye Bank and Research Centre. Soon, Dr Chandrashekhar of Adithya Nursing Home, who extends free service to the eye bank, arrived at the spot and removed the cornea. Ms Madhura said that the cornea were of excellent grade and they have been transplanted in two blind persons’ eyes at the Lion’s International Eye Bank in Bangalore on Monday. Now, Madhumathi’s husband, their three children and over 20 of their relatives have come forward to pledge their eyes. The removal of cornea in front of the eyes of relatives, helped in demystifying the myth that the eye donation would disfigure the face. Inspired by the incident, a group of 20 youngsters in the area too have decided to pledge their eyes at the eye bank on Kannada Rajyothsava Day.

My work on 'Increasing awareness on Eye Donation' among the public has been featured in the ORBIS India website. ORBIS is an International NGO dedicated to saving sight and eliminate unnecessary blindness across the world! They are doing a tremendous job in this field. ORBIS India is setup to cater to the people of India. ORBIS has a flying hospital (a converted DC-10 aircraft) that has teaching facility, a clinic and an OT.

Here is the link:
http://www.orbis.org.in/bins/index.asp -> link on the middle of the page by name 'Blog Spot'
OR
http://www.orbis.org.in/bins/index_page.asp?cid=589-595-615-3424&lang=7
OR
http://www.orbis.org.in/bins/index.asp -> 'Get Active' menu -> 'Campaign for Right to Sight' -> Pradeep Sudarshan's page

Further to Late Dr.Rajkumar's eye donation, his eyes has been transplanted to TWO visually-challenged individuals and hopefully these two blessed individuals will be able to se this beautiful world thru the great man's eyes...(This news is according to the latest reports from a TV Channel)

Long live his memories...Long live his eyes...

I truly pray god that this move by the great man, our 'anna', will be an inspiration and a stong message to all the people, across Karnataka and across the globe, to come forward to donate the eyes!

(Source: Deccan Herald, Bangalore)

The Campaign to Create Awareness on Eye Pledging and Eye Donation, conducted in my company campus yesterday (22nd Feb 2006), was a whopping success!! There was good response by the people for this and i thank god for making my first step a success...I thank Lions International Eye Bank for coming down here on my request and conducting this 'Gift Your Sight' campaign. (The pic above is the Counter setup for this campaign, in my company!)

Number wise, we are around 1200+ in our campus here and i got pledges totalling 275+ (from 1145hrs to 1645hrs) from the employees here.

Going forward, i plan to take this campaign to lot more companies, thru the network of my good friends and spread the message...

On Wednesday, 22nd February 2006, i am taking the responsibility of conducting a Eye Pledging and Eye Donation Information counter, in my company campus premises, with the kind support from Lions International Eye Bank, Bangalore. This will be one-day activity (1030hrs to 1630hrs) where my fellow colleagues can come to the counter and pledge their eyes for donation, get more information on eye donation and in turn motivate their family/friends to support this noble cause.

More updates about this after the campaign.

Pledge and Donate Eyes :: GIFT YOUR SIGHT :: Make it your WISH!

Last week I had applied for the membership of the Eye Bank Association of India (EBAI), which is present in Hyderabad and is the parent of all Eye Banks across India. They along with many institutes like LV Prasad Eye Institute and ORBIS International do a lot of programs on this eye donation. Also, EBAI were the people behind the eye donation campaigns by Mr. Amitabh Bhachan, Ms. Aishwarya Rai.

Today, I received the membership card of this prestigious institute (Membership No. IND-A-1568) and I seriously hope to make use of it, in this year and make a difference to this society.