Saving sight

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POCATELLO — Lance and Diane Peck, owners of Downard Funeral Home & Crematory, have been recovering eyes from deceased donors for several years, but a recently implemented program has made Lance one of three people in the state able to recover just the cornea.

The Pecks, who purchased Downard two years ago, operate their eye tissue recovery program in conjunction with the Idaho Lions Eye Bank based in Boise. Until recently, the Pecks recovered the entire eye and sent that on to the doctor performing the transplant.

Earlier this year, however, Lance became certified in the process of removing just the cornea, the most commonly used portion of the eye for transplants. Lance is one of only three people in Idaho who are authorized to do the corneal extraction for donation purposes. The other two are in Boise, he said.

“We are the satellite office for the eye bank in Boise,” Peck said.

To fill that role, the Pecks built a new laboratory at their Pocatello funeral home, located at 241 N. Garfield Ave.

“It’s an extension of the lab in Boise,” Lance said. “Typing and matching is done here.”

Corneal transplants, the first transplant of any kind, have a long history in the U.S. The first successful transplant was performed in 1905. The first eye bank was created in 1944 in New York City with the help of a Lions Club there.

Lance said the process of donating eye tissue is simple. The family of the recently deceased person must first give final approval for the tissue removal. Then the nearest eye bank is notified and a technician is sent to recover the tissue.

From there, time is the primary issue.

“The cornea has to be removed within six hours of death,” Lance said.

The technician will then take the tissue back to a lab and process it.

“Once we process the tissue, it is then sent to the doctor who will be implanting it into the recipient.”

While most airlines, including those in Pocatello, have agreed to fly the eye tissue for no charge, if a donation is made when no appropriate flights are available, Lions Club members throughout the U.S. are committed to moving the tissue to its destination by car.

“One will drive the tissue from one location to another where another member will then take it to the next destination,” Lance said. “Once the cornea is preserved in fluid, it must be used within two weeks. If there is not an immediate (recipient) for the tissue, then we send it to the eye bank in Boise where its held until a recipient is found.”

Ray Rosen, owner of Ray’s Custom Interiors in Pocatello, is also certified to remove entire eye tissue and expects to eventually be certified for corneal recovery, as well. Rosen became involved after he was contracted by the Pecks to help with remodeling Downard’s funeral home.

“I told (Lance) I had thought about being a mortician at one time,” Rosen said. “He asked if I wanted to help around the place.”

Eventually, Lance asked Rosen if he wanted to accompany him when he went to recover eye tissue. Rosen jumped at the chance. He said that first experience was a moving one for him.

“I thought this was the most awesome thing,” Rosen said. “Even though we are dead, we can still make a difference.”

Rosen said seeing the process first hand and being involved in it has enlightened him about certain fears he used to have regarding tissue donation.

“My big fear with tissue donation was mutilation of the body,” he said. “But there is absolutely no tearing or scaring of the face when recovering eye tissue. When the process is complete, others cannot tell it’s been done.”

“All donors are treated with dignity and respect,” Diane said. “To look at them at the funeral or viewing service, you would never know.”

There are also few restrictions on who can donate or receive the eye tissue.

There is no need to match blood type as the cornea has no blood running through it. It doesn’t even matter which eye — the right or left — that the cornea came from.

In fact, the primary restriction regarding who gets what cornea is the ages of the donor and recipient.

“Donors can be as young as 10 months to 12 months old, and as old as 80 years,” Lance said. “They want the recipient to be within 10 years of the donor’s age. They want the cornea’s lifespan to be similar to that of the recipient.

The success rate in corneal transplants is 90 percent. Diane said rejection of the cornea is rarely an issue. Recipients are not given any anti-rejection medication.

“There are some steroid drops they take to help the cornea grow into the new eye,” she said.

Neither the Pecks nor Rosen see much financial benefit from recovering the eye tissue. In fact, Rosen said that given the price of gas today, it sometimes costs him money depending on how far he must drive to recover the tissue.

“We got started because we wanted to volunteer our time,” Lance said. “We don’t make money. The lab here is 100 percent donation.”

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