Money! Money, money, money, money…MONEY! (O’Jays- 1973). Healio reported the University of California at San Diego has been given a $50 million dollar grant to found a research center specializing in ophthalmological research. The areas focused on will be glaucoma blindness and retinal degeneration. They are hoping the new center will speed the pace of discovery and innovation. The philanthropist was Andrew Viterbi.
Also in Healio, it was announced Wills Eye has received a $5 million grant to establish the Vickie and Jack Farber Research Center at the hospital. This $5 million from the Farbers comes on the heels of a previous $2 million gift. It also follows up a large grant for the establishment of the Vickie and Jack Farber Institute for Neuroscience at Thomas Jefferson University. The target of future research is to be neurological and eye diseases.
And want to know something crazy? Jack Farber’s corporation has roots in this area, North Central Pennsylvania! If you have ever bought ribbon from Berwick Offray (world’s largest manufacturer of decorative ribbons and bows according to Wiki) or seasonal decorations from Paper Magic, you have contributed to these philanthropic gifts. Cool.
Apparently, the take-home message here is keep wrapping those gifts…lots of ribbons! Let’s “wrap up” blindness in our lifetimes! (Ouch!)
Unfortunately, I am not a multimillionaire, so I guess I have to make my contributions to the cause smaller…a lot smaller. Like prattling along on this page, for example.
Saturday I went whitewater rafting for the first time since I lost my central vision. Now whitewater rafting is not really high on the lists of a lot of people, but I love being on the water and this was one of the things I wanted to do to get back to “me.”
I found a local group of people young enough to be my grandchildren, (if I had any) and I went along with them. Everything went swimmingly – no pun intended and no, I did not fall in. The welcome I got was great. They even suggested I come along caving in December…uh, no, thanks.
Going with them was a tad unorthodox, but sometimes you simply have to do what works. Effectively, that is.
You want to know my biggest challenge all day? Engaging the zipper on my life jacket! It made me realize jacket and coat weather is right around the corner for us here in the northern hemisphere. And I am woefully unprepared.
I looked online for some great wisdom about relearning how to engage zippers after sight loss and I did not find much. The advice they give is the same advice you gave your preschoolers: practice, practice, practice.
So, today’s suggestion is to check your winter coats and see if they have buttons or zippers. You might be a bit better off with buttons (maybe. I misbuttoned a blouse the other day). If you have zippers, now is the time to practice. Asking strangers to help dress you can be a bit humiliating….it was a good thing the girl fitting life jackets was very nice.?
Written September 5th, 2018