A special evensong service was held at Gloucester Cathedral to celebrate the gift of sight, made possible by cornea transplantation. The event brought together families who have either received corneas or donated them.
Justin Hunter, a 65-year-old retired businessman from Cheltenham, shared his gratitude for the cornea transplants that restored his sight. He stated, “I will be forever grateful to those two separate families donating those organs which helped to save my sight.”
The service, organised by Gloucestershire’s Organ and Tissue Donation Committee, highlighted the profound impact of organ donation. Hunter emphasised, “My message for World Sight Day is that if you donate organs to help people like me keep my sight you are literally giving me my life back.”
Paul Tomlins, Hunter’s ophthalmic consultant at Cheltenham General Hospital, commented on the significance of donation from a medical perspective: “As a corneal surgeon, I never forget - even in the middle of an operation - the preciousness, delicateness and extraordinary generosity behind every donated cornea.”
Iain Dobie also attended the service with his daughter, Imogen. His wife, Alison, who was a former nurse, had requested her eyes be used for donation before her sudden death four years ago. Iain shared, “Alison had given her eyes so that others might see. It was typical of her unselfishness and her generosity to those she did not know personally but nevertheless wanted to help.”
In Gloucestershire, between March 2025 and April this year, 78 families agreed to donate their loved one’s eyes, resulting in 156 corneas being used for sight-saving transplants. Since April, 40 families in the county have agreed to eye donation.
