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To believe that a person could go through so much sad and                    
traumatic events, would truly state that you have witnessed a miracle.       
For eight years she has suffered day after day with stomach problems,        
respiratory problems, and skin problems. But, perhaps the worst position     
that any person can be placed in, is the one that she has faced for eight    
long years with an attitude and personality that should be rewarded time     
and time again.  Every day Michelle wakes from her bed as the rest of the    
world and begins her daily routines. But Michelle must do things a           
little slower because she does it with no sight.  For eight years Michelle   
has been blind because of another mans mistakes.                             
                                                                             
There can be nothing as challenging than to go without ones sight.           
But often Michelle wishes this were her only problem, that she were just     
blind.  Due to Michelle's special condition she also must worry how long     
her eyes will stay in a healthy condition.  The cornea in both her eyes      
are dangerously thin. This allows for either cornea at any time to wear      
thin enough for the inner fluids to leak which will cause the loss of the    
eye. In addition to her thinning corneas Michelle also has developed         
glaucoma in both eyes causing her to return to the operating room again      
and again.                                                                   
                                                                             
On her most recent attempt to better her eyes, Michelle returned to          
New York where she confides in a few of the best medical doctors she         
knows.  She was to have a valve placed into her right eye that would         
allow for the fluids to drain and reduce the pressure caused by the          
glaucoma.  She has had the same type of valve placed in her left eye         
years ago.  At the same time the doctors where to remove a cataract          
that had formed.  Once this had been accomplished then a 6 mm cornea         
transplant would be placed in the eye and the surgery then complete.         
But at the last minute before Michelle went into surgery she noticed that    
the left eye had begun to leak due to a tear in the thin cornea.             
So now in addition to all that she planned to have done on the right eye     
she now also needed to have something done with the left eye.                
                                                                             
The time came for Michelle to go into the operating room, and the            
doctors went to work trying to fix her eyes.  When all was said and done,    
she had received the valve with a small complication that led to a           
hemorrhage in the back of her right eye.  The cataract was removed, and      
a 6 mm cornea transplant was preformed on her right eye.  Then the thin      
cornea in the left eye was removed and a 6 mm cornea transplant was placed   
on it as well.                                                               
                                                                             
To begin everything seemed to be going well after the surgery.               
The right eye had begun to heal and the new valve seemed to be working.      
Doctors promise that as the debris in the anterior chamber and the           
hemorrhage begin to clear up that sight should return in the right eye.      
The left eye was doing ok but had a small leak.  and both corneas            
appeared clear.  Michelle was released from the hospital, and her            
boyfriend, whom she had seen for the first time, drove her to New Jersey     
where she would stay while her eye's healed.  After a few days the right     
eye was 50% healed, but the left eye was still leaking.  So, Michelle was    
brought back into the operating room where her doctor re-stitched the new    
cornea.  The eye were to remain covered until the following day when the     
doctor would return to check the new sutures.                                
                                                                             
For two weeks Michelle went through the routine of going into surgery        
re- stitching the cornea and waiting twenty-four hours to re-check.  Each    
time the doctor would return in hope that the eye had stopped leaking and    
could be on its way to health.  And, each time the patches were removed      
Michelle would be given the bad news, and she and her doctor would return    
to the operating room.  Finally, after eight attempts to stabilize the       
eye it had begun to heal.  The right eye had completely healed, and          
the cornea was still clear.  The valve that had been placed in her eye       
was working wonderfully and the cataract appeared to be completely gone.     
However, due to the complication in surgery that caused the hemorrhage       
in the back of her eye, she still was unable see.  Doctors still promise     
in time as the eye clears up she may regain sight in that right eye.         
                                                                             
So finally, for Michelle things were starting to look good.   She            
was basically waiting for the right eye to clear up and the left eye to      
heal completely. As the left eye began to heal Michelle started to see       
again.  She noticed her doctors shirt when visiting for a check up, she      
saw people on the television and she would count the blinds in the window.   
Now, Michelle's left eye were 99% healed and all she waited for to return    
home was that 1% to heal and to receive her new contact lens's.  The         
night before she was to receive her lenses her doctor decided to remove      
the lens from her left eye that had been placed there only to help it        
heal.  The next day the contacts arrived, but overnight Michelle's left      
eye had regressed from 99% healed back to only 50%.  So again Michelle       
would wait for the left eye to heal before she could return home.  One       
week slipped by and then another, still the left eye had not healed.         
Now this short trip had turned into a waiting game.                          
                                                                             
Suddenly, one night Michelle felt sick, she was in great pain and            
could not stop vomiting.  The very next day she complained of severe pain    
in her right eye and was admitted back into the hospital and went directly   
into surgery.  The right eye had become very infected and doctors needed     
to get behind the eye for cultures.  It turns out that she had a very bad    
infection and needed to stay in the hospital for atleast a week.             
For seven days nurses would administer antibiotics by I.V. four times a      
day, she would take breathing medicines three times a day and specialist     
would draw blood four times a day.  The eye slowly began to return to        
normal and after a week the I.V. antibiotics were stopped.  Michelle then    
went on antibiotics in pill form and was told she had to stay yet another    
week to make sure everything was okay.  There was no word from the lab       
as to what or where the infection came from.  Michelle thought it could      
be just a sinus infection and hopefully no harm had been done to the eye.    
                                                                             
After the second week the right eye had returned to a stable                 
condition but the eye had done some shrinking.  Michelle was just happy      
she could come off all the medications.  However, the epithelium in          
Michelle's left eye had still not healed and Due to some uncomfortable       
situations at the house Michelle had been staying at, she asked if she       
could just stay in the hospital.  She was allowed to stay for three days     
more but then had to leave.  Back at the house in New Jersey Michelle        
struggled to keep her spirits up, now the left cornea had started to         
cloud up and still had not healed.  And, doctors were not sure how much      
damage the right eye had suffered.  As well Michelle felt most               
uncomfortable in the house she were staying, it seems the washing            
machine had been shut off.  So her mother could not do any laundry           
and a day later the pots and pans could not be found.                        
                                                                             
Michelle was at her daily doctors visit the next day.  When the most         
shocking news of all came.  The doctor had looked at her eye and Michelle    
begun to cry because there had been no changes.  In an attempt to keep       
Michelle fighting, her doctor told her: "Michelle your very lucky to be      
sitting here with us today, the infection in your right eye was              
reported to be the strep varidans virus".  (known as the flesh               
eating disease) Michelle could only cry.                                     
                                                                             
This visit Dr. Lister decided to try a new approach to help                  
the left eye heal.  A collagen shield would be placed over the eye           
and on top of that the contact lens.  Michelle returned the following day    
and the doctor inspected her eye.  The eye had started to heal.  Finally,    
Michelle was on her way to recovery and hopefully back to Florida.           
The next day Michelle returned to the office and the eye had healed          
another 15%.  Things were still getting worse at the house Michelle          
and her mother were staying at.  For one whole day the electric had          
been shut off in her room, so her and her mother just sat and sang songs.    
                                                                             
On Michelle's next visit to the doctor pictures would be taken to            
see what damage the right eye had suffered.  Sadly, the doctor  was          
unable to see much at all.  The eye had too much debris from the             
infection to see the back of the eye.  So, like the rest of Michelle's       
trip time would tell.  Finally, news came that Michelle may possibly be      
coming home.  The wound in her left eye was now 90% healed and within        
the next few days would be completely healed over.  The efforts to find      
Michelle a new place to stay for the next week had come to an end, so        
she and her mother would try to just stick it out at this house from hell.   
Six days before Michelle were to come home she received yet more bad news.   
Her doctors, though not certain, assumed that due to the complications and   
the virus in her right eye that she would never see out of that eye again.   
For Michelle this is a concept that would not be accepted, she still has     
some faith in the right eye and intends to prove the doctors wrong.          
The doctors as well all hope that Michelle can prove their assumptions       
wrong.                                                                       
                                                                             
Michelle's last weekend in this nightmare would be spent with her            
family and friends in Staten Island.  Mostly so she and her mother           
could get away from the house.  After the weekend, Michelle returned to      
the house in New Jersey.  On Monday, she was to visit the doctor again       
to check on the long slow healing of her left eye.  The eye had returned     
to that same frightening 99% when last time things turned for the worse.     
Michelle and her mother returned to the house in hopes that everything       
would be okay with both her eye and her living conditions.  On wednesday     
they returned to the doctors office for the final word.  At last the eye     
had healed.                                                                  
                                                                             
Michelle and her mother were finally on the way home.  After 71 days         
Michelle's journey had finally come to an end.  The experience leaves        
Michelle in a predicament that no man or woman should endure.                
The outcome of her efforts constitute for the right eye: possible loss       
of her vision for life; substantial shape distortion; and damage to          
the optic nerve.  For the left eye a new cornea but no sight due to the      
lengthy amount of time it took to heal. And Michelle's spirit,               
enough emotional distress and financial obligation to bring down a           
small nation.                                                                
                                                                             
Michelle will continue to visit her doctors in hopes that one day            
someone or something will look down on her and smile, and give her the       
vision that she deserves so much.  It is truly a sad day when the            
technology is there to give one sight, but a man and his rules, or           
ego will stand in the way.  (Michelle could recieve a synthetic              
cornea that would give her sight.  But the FDA wil not approve it.)          
                                                                             
For making Michelle's trip a little easier a special thanks goes out to:     
                                                                             
Michelle's mother Paola                                                      
Dr. Lister and the girls in the office                                       
Sal Italiano                                                                 
Beverly the head nurse                                                       
Susan Ilczycsin and the Lombardi's for their efforts back home               
and all of you who thought and prayed for Michelle in her time of need.      
                                                                             
                                                                             
                                        -Scott Jacobs                        
                                                                             
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You can reach Scott Jacobs through Cyberspace 2000 (813) 939-1760, or        
you can use FLinkNET to reach him.                                           

