The Gift of Sight
We were traveling across country when the call came. “There’s been an accident and Will has a serious eye injury. The winter storm here is intense, and the roads horrific but we’re driving two and a half hours to Rapid City to the ER there. We need your prayers.”
Hours pass and finally another message. “We’re being airlifted to Denver. They are telling us that Will, will likely never regain vision in that eye again. There was bleeding in his iris, a corneal abrasion and the pressure was so high it was causing optic nerve damage.”
Our hearts were breaking as we prayed for our grandson. The next morning another message. “We have a miracle! By the time we reached Denver, Will had regained sight in his eye. He is on medication, and he isn’t out of the woods yet, but he should completely recover!”
My story has a happy ending, but that isn’t always the case. Accidents causing eye injuries in children is fairly commonplace, given the sports our kids play, chemical accidents, toys with flying fragments or even fingernail mishaps. Our accident was a result of kids playing, but it was freak in the sense that Will walked into the line of fire of a flying object after leaving one room and popping into another.
My daughter’s nursing experience gave some sense of control, but the emotional toll was still devastating. As a parent, the last thing we want to have happen is accidents to our children. We often take our sight for granted, never giving thought to the consequences, should an eye injury occur.
Statistics show about 90 percent of injuries to the eyes are preventable when wearing safety eyewear. Sports is one arena which causes significant eye injuries. When you are considering hockey, archery or darts it’s easy to see how this can happen. But BB guns, bicycling, basketball, baseball, boxing and any sport that includes a racket, are also substantially noteworthy. In these areas, it’s especially important care is taken to safeguard the eyes, although it seems it seldom happens, especially in professional circles. This phenomenon, makes it doubly difficult to enforce protection for children.
Using a lawnmower, welding, or using other equipment is another instance where eye shields are encouraged. There have been times when my husband came in with pieces of sawdust, a small piece of metal (which required a trip to Urgent Care), or other debris which can be projected up and into the eye, causing significant pain and damage.
In college (and in high school) we were always instructed to wear the “protective glasses” provided, when doing labs in Science Class. I remember students who balked and flatly refused to wear the eye gear, until being threatened with a 0 for the day because they would not be permitted to participate if they did not follow the instructions.
We take our sight for granted until that fateful moment when there is an injury that steals that unique blessing of the ability to see. I encourage you to be mindful of situations where sight in ourselves or our children are at risk. Disabilities happen. Sometimes it’s carelessness; other times it’s an accident we couldn’t have seen coming!
Photo Credit: https://depositphotos.com/167477650/stock-photo-mountain-glasses-reflection.html