It is hard to believe that today marks exactly nine years since my life changed forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, I am celebrating the 9th anniversary of my cornea transplant. As I look around today\u2014taking in the colors, the details, and the faces of the people I love\u2014I am overwhelmed with a sense of stability and profound gratitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My transplant is doing great, and my vision is going strong. But reaching this milestone wasn’t a solo journey. It took a team of experts and the ultimate act of generosity from a stranger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
World-Class Care at Home<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have to send a massive thank you to the incredible teams at Mercy Hospital and Wolfe Eye Clinic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From the initial consultations to the surgery itself and the years of follow-up care, I have felt completely supported. The skill and precision required for this surgery are immense, and I feel so lucky to have had access to such high-quality care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To the doctors, nurses, and support staff who guided me through the fear and the recovery: thank you for your expertise and your kindness. You helped restore a vital part of my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Gift of Sight<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While I am grateful for the technology and the medicine, the true heart of this celebration belongs to someone I will likely never meet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My transplant was made possible because of an organ donor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I often think about the donor and their family. I think about the immense strength it must have taken for a grieving family to make a decision in the midst of their worst nightmare. They faced a horrible situation, yet they found the courage to extract a bit of good out of it to help someone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because they said “yes” to donation, I can see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their loss became my legacy of sight. There is not a day that goes by that I don\u2019t appreciate the sunset, a book, or a smile, knowing that I am viewing it through a gift they provided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Looking Forward<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nine years later, my eye is healthy, my vision is clear, and my heart is full.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you are reading this and haven\u2019t registered to be an organ, eye, and tissue donor yet, please consider it. It is one of the most powerful ways to leave a lasting impact on the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s to many more years of clarity!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It is hard to believe that today marks exactly nine years since my life changed forever. Today, I am celebrating the 9th anniversary of my cornea transplant. As I look around today\u2014taking in the colors, the details, and the faces of the people I love\u2014I am overwhelmed with a sense of stability and profound gratitude. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[66,67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-66","category-janurary-2026"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jwenzel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jwenzel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jwenzel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jwenzel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jwenzel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=756"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jwenzel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":757,"href":"https:\/\/www.jwenzel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756\/revisions\/757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jwenzel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jwenzel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jwenzel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}