CORNEA TRANSPLANT CORRECTS WOMAN'S PROBLEMS

The first woman minister of the Missouri Methodist Church East Conference, a longtime church organist, a liturgist and school teacher.

All this almost came to a halt when Clara Shanks of Cape Girardeau lost sight in her left eye.

Shanks developed cataracts, which were removed. The affected lenses were replaced by artificial lens implants a very common procedure.

But an uncommon result occurred: the cells in the cornea of her left eye stopped functioning due to the trauma of the cataract surgery.

The cornea is the clear, outer "window" of the eye. When it clouds up due to disease or injury, one cannot "see out" no matter how good vision is.

Something even more uncommon occurred. "After the cataract surgery, I suffered great pain in my left eye. This was very unusual. I experienced no discomfort at all in the right eye," she said.

Shanks endured the pain for almost two years. The vision in her left eye deteriorated to the point it was difficult for her to continue her ministry or even drive. "It felt like there was a jagged piece of glass in my left eye," she recalled.

Doctors were at a loss to explain the continued pain. Hoping to at least restore the sight in her left eye, she was placed on the waiting list at the Missouri Lions Eye Tissue Bank in St. Louis for a transplantable cornea.

The same day the tissue request paperwork was received in the mail in Cape Girardeau, Shanks was notified that a suitable cornea had been received. She and her husband, Loren, rushed to Bethesda Hospital in St. Louis for the surgery.

"I guess no surgery is fun, but between the soft background music and the encouraging conversation of the surgeon, my cornea transplant operation was almost pleasant," she said. "Even though there was a patch on my eye, I could see colors and objects almost immediately through the small openings.

"It is a bittersweet feeling to realize that someone had to die to restore my sight, but I am so very, very grateful."

Shanks will repay the thoughtfulness of the eye donor's family by continuing her own work. Currently she has a bandage and oversized contact lens protecting the transplanted cornea. It will be removed shortly and her vision will be completely restored.

Then Shanks will be back at work, preaching in Scott City and assisting at the Methodist church in Cape Girardeau.