And the experience prompted her to encourage others to sign up as organ donors. “To be able to hopefully inspire people to donate their organs, to donate their corneas, that’s so positive,” Freeman, 26, said Thursday in an interview with CBC News in Toronto. Freeman is one of the lucky ones. There are nearly 1,500 Ontarians waiting for organ transplants and someone dies every three days because the organ they needed is not available, according to the Trillium Gift of Life Network, an Ontario government agency responsible for the province’s organ donation system. Her ordeal began a few months after she and her partner Konrad left for Central America in February to teach English to children in Honduras. In May, Freeman’s right eye became inflamed. The doctor at a nearby clinic told her it was pink eye. But the pain continued to worsen, and just two days after her initial visit, she was referred to a specialist and underwent emergency surgery. Freeman is seen here saying an emotional goodbye to some of her students before returning home to Canada in May. She says it was difficult to leave school in Honduras after the eye infection. (Submitted by Madison Freeman) It turned out to be a fungal infection found only in tropical climates. Freeman, who lives in Waterloo, Ont., said it took her a while to realize the magnitude of her situation, which forced her to return to Canada. “I wasn’t thinking about that so much, I was really thinking about the kids at the time,” she said, referring to the young Honduran students she would have to leave behind. Later in May, he returned to Toronto, where he saw several specialists. A doctor told her that she should prepare for the worst-case scenario – the removal of her eye. “That was very hard to hear,” Freeman said. “We didn’t know it was that serious at the time. It seemed a little hopeless at that point.” He then met with Dr. Clara Chan, an ophthalmologist at the University Health Network Donald K. Johnson Eye Institute in Toronto. Chan told her it was going to improve with the help of a transplanted cornea – the clear outer layer at the front of the eye that helps focus light. Dr. Clara Chan, an ophthalmologist at the University Health Network’s Donald K. Johnson Eye Institute, checks Freeman’s eye every week. (Christopher Langenzarde/CBC) Chan said she had to cut out the infected cornea and, with stitches one-tenth the size of a human hair, sew a new one back into the eye. “The risk is that the infection could spread elsewhere if left untreated. Not only did the corneal transplant save her vision, it also saved the anatomical structures of the rest of her eye,” Chan said.
“We all cried”
Chan said corneal transplants are more than 90 percent effective, and so far, Freeman’s right eye has healed well. “They took off the bandages and the doctors held up his hand and he said, ‘How many fingers do I have?’ … I said four and that was the first time I’d seen anything out of that eye in six weeks,” Freeman said. “We all cried.” Any Ontarian age 16 or older with a valid health card can register as an organ and tissue donor, the Trillium Gift of Life Network said. A donor can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance up to 75 lives through tissue donation, according to the organization. Although eyes are only retrieved for transplant after death, Freeman said people are still susceptible to it, making them the least likely organ to donate. registration is possible. “There were some very low points and some very scary points,” he told CBC News. “I think that one negative has turned into so many positives that I almost can’t be upset about it.”
