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AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) – It is estimated that there are probably 1 billion people around the world with severe visual impairments, many of which can be corrected with surgery.
Sadly, for many it will never happen. But a mission born here in Amarillo seeks to change that.
“At its core is a desire to use eye surgery as a platform to extend the Kingdom of God in this world. We perform both retinal and retinal eye surgeries,” said Chosen Eye Mission Director John Kohler.
The mission, known as the Chosen Eye Mission, has flourished from humble beginnings.
“Dr. Ryan Rush and Dr. Avery Rush started it. Ryan Rush had been telling his father since he was about 12 years old that he wanted to grow up and be a missionary.” “Then his father said, ‘You need to get a proper job, son,'” Kohler said.
Currently, the Amarillo-based mission includes surgeons from across the country.
“That means we have surgeons as far away as Florida, Portland, Oregon, and Washington state,” Kohler said.
In addition to our local team, other surgeons also bring their teams and equipment to coordinate eye surgery mission trips.
“We’re going to do about nine projects this year. We’ll do, I think five of them will be in Nicaragua, two in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the rest in Mexico,” Kohler said.
These medical missions are very elaborate jobs.
“We have to have all the equipment that we have here in the state. And we have to send it to other parts of the world and create a complete operation,” Kohler said.
Screening takes place months in advance, so hundreds of patients will be waiting when the team arrives.
“These patients don’t have the opportunity to have surgery in or near their hometown. Some patients can come from 12 hours away. And the more funding we have, the more patients we can get. can have an impact,” said eye surgeon Dr. Holly Guy.
“Once we start seeing more patients, we’re literally going to have 150 to 200 patients per day,” Kohler said.
The stories of how surgery changed lives are amazing.
“One of the stories we had early on was a father and daughter. They were both born with congenital cataracts, so they’ve had cataracts since birth. , things went really well, and then they operated on his daughter as well. His daughter was 14 years old at the time. And the father couldn’t see his daughter from the day she was born,” Kohler said. .
And a blind woman who starved before surgery and was unable to take care of herself.
“One of our doctors operated on her and eventually her eyesight was restored to the point where she could feed herself,” Kohler said.
“So where do we go next? And what’s our next mission?” Dave asked.
“Our next mission is scheduled for March in Nicaragua,” Kohler said.
“Our dream for Chosen is to accumulate enough capital and funding to make this organization an international organization unparalleled in the fight against blindness worldwide,” said J. Avery Rush, vice chair of the Board of Directors. Dr. Sei said:
“So when you get back, could you please share some more stories of the people who were affected?” Dave asked.
“I want to!” answered the caller. “We want to share what God is doing on the other side.”
You will hear all kinds of good news.
If you would like to donate to Chosen or a mission volunteer, click here.
Copyright 2024 KFDA. All rights reserved.
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