Cornea Transplant Recipient: Ellen Yoshiuchi
Meet Ellen Yoshiuchi, a cornea transplant recipient and resident of Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Ellen is making the most of her retirement. With her restored sight, she is able to navigate independently on public transportation; she especially makes use of New York City’s MTA buses. The arts are very important to Ellen, and her favorite activities include visiting museums and attending dance and theater performances.
But the independent life Ellen enjoys now was very hard to imagine when, about fifteen years ago, she was diagnosed with Fuchs’ dystrophy, a degenerative eye disease that causes fluid to build up in the cornea, the clear outer covering of the eye, eventually causing blindness. Ellen describes her experience with Fuchs’ dystrophy as “constantly seeing things through rain clouds.” Receiving this diagnosis was very difficult for Ellen. She worried about raising her two boys and managing the demands of her job at a national non-profit organization.
It was then that Ellen connected with corneal surgeon George J. Florakis, M.D. who informed her that her condition could be treated by corneal transplantation. Ellen was both relieved to know there was a treatment yet afraid to have the surgery. But, with support and encouragement from her family, she proceeded to receive two cornea transplants with donor eye tissue provided by The Eye-Bank of New York. Her surgeries were successful, and today she is able to enjoy her retirement and independence thanks to the gifts of her eye donors. Ellen is forever grateful to the two people whose generosity changed her life. “I think about my donors every single day”.
To learn more about Ellen’s story you can watch her testimonial video!