see more pictures from the event
Iowa Lions Eye Bank Spring Dedication Ceremony in the Iowa Lions Donor Memorial & Healing Garden
story by Deb Schuett, Iowa Lions Eye Bank
Iowa City, May 13,2008
Melanie (Ingwersen) Smith was an excited college freshman at Wartburg College in Waverly when she contracted a serious infection in her right eye. After several weeks of battling the infection, she was referred to the Cornea and External Disease Clinic in the Department of Ophthalmology at UIHC. She was diagnosed with acanthamoebic keratitis, making her right eye very sensitive to light and extremely painful. “Thanks to the blessing from a donor family," Melanie emotionally stated during the ceremony, she received a cornea transplant on February 13th of 2003. “I was able to actually see again," she said, “because of my donor’s selfless act of kindness.”
The Iowa Lions Donor Memorial & Healing Garden, located directly in front of the new main entrance of University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, was dedicated on October 10th of 2005 to commemorate organ, tissue and eye donors and all those who have supported the work of donation, transplantation and research. The beautiful Memorial Garden is paved with 994 stones that can be purchased and dedicated in memory of donors, recipients, and those affiliated with the donation process. Six of these special stones were dedicated during the afternoon ceremony on Tuesday, May 13th.
To date, well over 20,000 Iowans have donated organs, tissues and/or eyes. In 2007, the Iowa Lions Eye Bank had 640 eye donors in Iowa, providing 807 corneas for transplant and 472 eyes for research, education and teaching. In addition, Iowa Donor Network reported that 54 individuals in Iowa became organ donors and 344 Iowans gifted tissues last year.
Iowans can access the registry web site, www.IowaDonorRegistry.org, to legally document their wishes for donation. Beginning in July of 2007, the Iowa Donor Registry and the Iowa Department of Transportation's Motor Vehicle Division combined databases. As a result of this merger, when people designate “yes” to donation on their driver’s license, the information is also downloaded to our state’s donor registry.
Jody Dosser also spoke at the Spring Dedication Ceremony last week. As Jody stepped up to the podium, she proceeded to tell the 175 people in attendance that she was probably going to cry. After a heartfelt pause, she shared the story of the loss of their only son, Jermiah, just last spring. Jermiah Dosser died at the age of 24, only days before his 25th birthday, when his motorcycle was hit by a pickup truck while stopped at an intersection in Des Moines.
In a memorable conversation with his parents that took place less than a month prior to his death, Jermiah shared his decision to be a donor by way of his recently renewed driver’s license. When Jody and her husband, Rick, were informed of Jermiah’s death, it was Jody that remembered their conversation and Jermiah’s desire to give his last gift.
Jermiah Dosser gave sight to two people through corneal transplants and donated skin and tissues to countless others. Speaking on behalf of all donor families and to all recipients, Jody Dosser said of her son, "Our donor gave their life for you."
The staff of the Iowa Lions Eye Bank wishes to thank all of those who participated and attended this beautiful, emotional and inspiring ceremony!