Amistad Provides Corneas for Mexican Indians

Thanks to two eye banks, Redlands Eye and Tissue Bank and Iowa Lions Eye Bank, and volunteer Mexican eye surgeons Drs. Juan Manuel Garcia, Victor Corona and Rene Santillan, two Mexican Indian young people have a strong hope of improved eyesight.

Huichol Indian, Zenaida Torres, 19, mother of two children, received a cornea transplant on April 10, 2002. This cornea was sent, free of charge, from the Iowa Lions Eye Bank in Iowa City, Iowa. This donation was coordinated by the Redlands Eye and Tissue Bank. Drs. Rene Santillan and Victor Corona, directors of Clinica ProVista, donated their time and talent to operate on Zenaida’s right eye.

Two weeks earlier, on March 20, the Redlands Eye and Tissue Bank had donated a cornea to a nearly blind Yaqui Indian boy, Luis Choqui, age ten. Eye surgeon, Dr. Juan Manuel Garcia, operated on Luis in his clinic in Cuidad Obregon, Sonora, Mexico.