Because Someone was an Eye Donor

1994	2004
Read About Alex	Read about Melanie

Peek A Boo I See You Because Someone was an Eye Donor

In 1991, when Alex, from Nashua, Iowa, was just 1 1/2 years old, he was playing in the yard and ran up behind his Grandpa, who happened to be carrying a branch. Alex ran into the branch and badly damaged his cornea, requiring a corneal transplant.

Wrestling Photograph, 2004	School Picture, 2004

Thanks to the corneal transplant surgeon, the Iowa Lions Eye Bank, and the Lions of Iowa, Alex feels great and sees well, and has grown into an active teenager. As of the 2004-2005 school year, Alex is 15 years old and a freshman in high school where he is a member of his school's varsity wrestling team (112 lbs., with a record of 23-8 the last we heard). In between driver's eduation classes and his new hobby, paintball, he can be found riding his dirt bike, snowmobiling, or fishing. He is enrolled in the vocational education program in school and is in the FFA program.

His parents write "The incident 14 years ago was an accident that so easily could happen to anyone. Sticks and eyes are not a good combination. We'll be ever thankful to the cornea donor that saved Alex's vision and helped him to carry on what we feel is quite a 'normal' life."

I can see clearly now... because someone was an eye donor

Melanie Ingwersen underwent a corneal transplant at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in 2003 after several months of battling Acanthamoeba in her right eye. Acanthamoeba is a protozoa with the potential of causing a rare and very serious corneal infection that can occasionally necessitate a corneal transplant.
Melanie is currently (2005) a Wartburg College Junior. She has just recently returned from a fall semester internship in Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania. She is dedicated to her “Fitness Management” major, focused on a successful career in athletics and fitness aspects of the healthcare field.

She has been very active in numerous donor awareness projects and activities since 2003. "Since the transplant, I feel that I need to make others more aware of the crucial need for donors. This is for people of any age. Everyone needs to know!"

She has publicly shared her personal recipient story during chapel services at Wartburg College as an ambassador for National Donor Sabbath Weekend 2003, and participated as a spokesperson for corneal donation and transplantation on the Recipient Panel of the 20th Annual Transplant Conference in Iowa City in April of 2004.

Melanie has appeared on ILEB bus posters and a highway billboard which stated, "I can see clearly now... because someone was an eye donor." Her participation in these eye bank projects assisted in the promotion of National Eye Donor Awareness Month and National Donate Life Month 2004. She is an active and generous volunteer. She has given her time to numerous school, church and community organizations and committees. The Oxford Junction July 4th celebrations for the past 2 years have included Melanie walking the parade route passing out literature and other items, encouraging everyone to “Make a miracle and be an eye, organ, and tissue donor".