A body can be prepared after eye donation
in a manner, which leaves it looking entirely natural. No mourner,
who has not been informed, can make out that the natural eyes have
been removed from a corpse, and replaced with artificial replicas.
The process takes no more than a few minutes, and doctors will arrive
at most sites to carry out their task, in no more than a few hours.
Eye donation does not affect funeral arrangements materially.
The cornea is a round and transparent
layer in front of the eye. It permits sight by allowing light to
enter. There are certain medical conditions in which it becomes
cloudy, and accidents may damage it beyond repair. Since scientists
have not yet found ways to make working substitutes, a person without
functional corneas cannot see. The part can be stored for long enough
to find any number of people whose sight can be restored through
donated corneas. Donations can be accepted regardless of age, sex,
and medical condition.
A primary care physician will be pleased
to provide a telephone number and an address of the nearest eye
bank. It is best to declare intention to donate eyes while a person
is alive, and to carry a card at all times, issued by an eye bank,
which records this decision, and makes it easy for care givers to
carry out a wish to this effect. It also helps to discuss the matter
with family and friends, so that everyone who is likely to have
a role in your funeral knows of your desire to donate your eyes.
People responsible for dead bodies of their loved ones may wish
to consider such donation on behalf of departed souls as well.
The gift of sight is integral
to life, and though the hardy and the compelled manage to live productively
without this vital sense words can scarcely describe the sensations
of light, colors, forms, and faces, after years of endless darkness.
You can deal the specter of death a tremendous blow by restoring
sight for two people, by the simple act of donating your eyes, after
your body no longer has any use for them.
Demand for corneas outstrips supply
by far, so all donations are used almost immediately. There is no
time for survivors to choose amongst potential recipients, but eye
banks make it possible for survivors of a donor to stay in touch
with recipients, albeit in anonymous manner. The unbounded joy of
a person who can see will go a long way in consoling mourners, and
make every irreparable loss somewhat easier to bear.
Parts of a donated eye which cannot
be used by any recipient, may be useful in scientific research,
and will be disposed off in the most ethical manner in any case.
Eye donation after death carries a host of exclusive benefits, and
is one of the few things in life without any significant downsides
of any kind. Every one of us can continue to live long after death
in its conventional sense, through the becoming weapon of eye donation.
It is a cause to espouse, regardless of age, sex, and faith. Even
the old and infirm can donate their eyes. This great act of piety
can also makes one's final days in terminal disease more bearable.
Cancer victims can also donate their eyes without any harm for eternally
grateful recipients.
Speak to your family and to close
acquaintances at the first appropriate opportunity, and register
your eye donation decision with an eye bank as soon as possible.
Death is never pleasant, but you will be immensely fortified to
meet the inevitable event when its time comes, by this act of benevolence.
