A Charity Run Cost One Woman Her Sight!

A 5H mud run for charity was supposed to be a fun event, but it led to a nightmare for one woman. Can The Doctors help?

“I had mud all over my clothes, in my hair. I could taste the dirt,” Brittany says. “I sensed something was wrong. My hands were covered with mud and I had no way to even clear out my eyes.” Immediately after the run, she flushed her eyes with water, but they were still painful and full of tears.

The next morning, “I was in shock.” Upon awakening, Brittany realized that she was losing her vision. At the emergency room, she was seen by several specialists. “They told me I had several corneal abrasions,” she says. “Things were so severe that the doctor needed to take culture swabs probably ten times.”

In spite of using prescription eye drops, her eyes got worse – they appeared white and soon she was completely blind in her left eye. She was confined to the trauma ward for nine days because “My cornea was literally melting.”

Watch: How Getting Second Opinion Saved Boy's Sight

Brittany underwent two surgeries to her eyes, but she remained hypersensitive to light and had trouble driving. “The doctors are saying that the only way to get my eyesight back is to get a cornea transplant,” she explains. “But there is great risk. If things go wrong I won’t have an eye at all.”

The Doctors send Brittany to Opthamologist Dr. Kerry Assil to see if her vision can be saved. He says that her eye shows evidence of a severe infection – her cornea is heavily scarred and the layers have fused together. Because her eye is so inflamed, a transplant will probably fail.

“The cornea is the only transparent part of the body,” explains Dr. Assil, “and therefore it doesn’t have the privilege of having blood vessels that protect it with the immune system. That’s why your infection got so bad, so fast.” He says that Brittany has a better chance for a successful transplant in about six months, once her eye has recovered more from the infection.

Watch: Cornea Transplant

When Brittany is ready, Dr. Assil offers to refer her to a surgeon in Dallas who can perform the transplant – or she can return to Los Angeles and he’ll do it for her himself!
In the meantime, Brittany and her fiancé Dan had been planning for their wedding, but medical expenses have put a damper on their progress toward their big day. But ER Physician Dr. Travis Stork has surprised in store for them!

Our Love Floral and Events in Dallas will donate floral arrangements, and Robbins Brothers Engagement Rings is offering them $1,000 toward their wedding bands. And their fairy-tale wedding will take place in an actual castle, at the Castle at Rockwall, which is also providing photography. Drop Visionary Branding Videography will contribute videography. No wedding is complete without beautiful gowns and formalwear, and House of Wu will dress the entire wedding party.

“We wish you the best with everything – your vision, your wedding,” concludes Dr. Stork.