Lions Eye Bank Week: See How Lions Turn Eye Tissue Donations into the Gift of Sight

During Lions Eye Bank Week – held annually during the first full week of December – we celebrate the valuable services provided by more than 50 Lions eye banks worldwide. We sent a video crew to Wisconsin to see how a Lions eye bank makes life-changing corneal transplants possible.

Like many corneal transplant stories, this one begins with a tragic accident – Susan Bautch’s son Jason died in a head-on vehicle collision. “Ultimately there was no hope and that was when we made the decision to donate Jason’s organs,” said Bautch.

The Lions Eye Bank of Wisconsin received Jason’s corneas for use in a sight-restoring transplant surgery. “The results are quite dramatic,” says David Butters, Executive Director of the Lions Eye Bank of Wisconsin. “We take people who are usually blind, and within a couple of days after the surgery they’re able to see again.”