Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Santa Barbara Sight's First Patient
Sight Surgery International believes that Charity begins at home. Sandi, a young woman with cancer, currently going through Chemo had a number of vision changes due to the medication. Fortunately, one of our favorite Volunteer Vision Hero's, Dr. Marc Lowe, came to her rescue. After her refraction, Ricky at the Santa Barbara Eye Glass Factory took care of her new glasses. Many Many thanks to Dr. Lowe and the Feldman's at the Santa Barbara Eyeglass Factory.
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I am Sandi, the woman mentioned as the first Santa Barbara Sight's First Patient. While I appreciate being called a young woman, I am actually a 49 yr old single mom of three, who was diagnosed with multi-cenric carcinoma (3 independent tumors) of the right breast. This is a rare breast cancer, which occurs approximately once a year in Santa Barbara County. Lucky me, I knew I was special! My cancer grew very fast, within 6 months of my first abnormal mammogram. Dr. Kimberly Grafton, a life saver for me, said she never walks into a new patient consult with the words "You need an immediate mastectomy". While this was scary, I was at ease because I was assembling the best team possible to attack this challenge. With the support of my hero, Baillie Brown and many friends and family, I recovered from the mastectomy and despite 6 positive lymph node involvement,I was still unafraid. I went through 6 hellacious treatments of the strongest chemo used, but found that despite feeling poorly for about a week, I bounced back and was focusing on having two good weeks before the next chemo. My insurance only covers 70% of treatment, so a fantastic fundraiser at Sharkeez was held, which provided funds for my family's living expenses. I was caught in the middle; too much disability income for additional assistance and not enough income to support my family,
ReplyDeleteThis is not a story of poor me, but rather one of the amazing journey that has been put upon my shoulders. I am blessed to go through this journey, as I now know personally that humanity has not been lost in a sea of bad things. Many,many strangers have come forward to lend their financial help with small donations to larger ones, that allowed me to keep a roof over my head and utilties on and food in the fridge.
I am humbled, as I learned to accept the willing help offered. Many miracles occurred...A plastic surgeon heard of my plight and has offered the reconstructive surgery pro-bono. A sister-in-law used a contact in the insurance business to find me much better car insurance plus renter's insurance for less, and then they paid for the first two months. The Jefferson Fund helped pay my rent for four months. The list goes on, and it would take too long to mention all the little miracles.
As Baillie Brown learned that I was not able to use my current glasses due to changes caused by chemotherapy, she immediately stepped in and contacted Dr. Mark Lowe. Dr. Lowe and his office were very kind and treated me with great respect and performed a refraction for no cost. Then to my surprise, Baillie Brown contacted Ricky at the Santa Barbara Eye Glass Factory to obtain free glasses so I could see 20/20 again. Ricky was able to offer me a more stylish frame, since I was a former customer and was donating my current glasses to the Lions mission.
Today, I was able to read highway signs at a safe distance. Today, I was able to type this blog comment without squinting. Today I was able to clearly see my kid's faces from afar. I am so blessed...another miracle.
Thank you, Santa Barbara Sight See, for you recognizing my need and acting immediately to help me.
Paying it forward, I have volunteered my clerical and accounting skills to this fine volunteer organization...Thank you so much for the gift of receiving, and now allowing me the gift of giving...Sincerely, Sandi
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I'm glad that the ophthalmic doctor solve your problems with seeing and found a new prescription glasses for your eyes
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