TWO "MIRACLES."

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 208, 3 September 1938, Page 11

TWO "MIRACLES."

— |, SIGHT RECOVERED. ' DEAD WOMAN'S GIFT. < i SURGEON'S AMAZING SKILL, j 1 (From Our Correspondent.) FRAXCISCO. August 16. < Two "miracles" have been wrought 1 | in San Franeiseo when two men, long] blind, have regained their sight under £ ■ tlie strangest of circumstances. < | tloin old eyes closed in death they' 'won the precious cift of sight. *. ( Almost shouting for joy the two. who jhad waited eiuht days in darkness after 1 joperations that, doctors said, had but 1 !a "thousand to one chance"' of success. • were able to see once more. < As the bandages fell from eager eyes I they counted the sensitive, slender j fingers of the surgeon whose miraculous ' [skill had restored their vision. They jsaw colour too. ' It's black." they said. I when a surgeon's black-gloved hand [passed before their newly restored eyes, fit's white." they said when the operatjing surgeon spread liis ungloved fingers I !for them to count. ] I The jubilant pair, in the surgery ward ! of San Francisco hospital, were the |Rev. U. E. Hardin?. Portland. Oregon.l jXazarene minister, aged ~>4. and a young] Stockton man. whose name was not. ipermitted at first to l>e released. I Into one eye of each had been grafted i a tiny disc of clear cornea tissue from I itlie eyes of the late Mrs. Margaret Carr.l [80. mother of four and a member ofl ithe Berkeley branch of the church! | which Mr. Harding serves. j j Nine days previously, following Mrs. jCarr's death, the eyes she gave were Itaken by surgeons. Under a technique [developed in Russia, the eyes were | refrigerated. The freezing process, the [operating surgeon disclosed, apparently (eliminates all necessity of matching! j blood-types between donor of the eve' land the recipient. j | In addition, it seems to eucourage a .perfect knitting of the transplanted {tissue into tlie living eye. Perfect heal-

Jing resulted in each ease. watchers' (declared. The delicate stitches with' .which the cornea tissue was held in 1 [place in operations eight days ago were letracting gradually and normal healing' was in progress. e Surgeon Was Joyous. The retina in each case responded when the bandages were removed.', Without correction of lens, success of: the operations was revealed. Xot know-j ing whether to shout or cry, the twol men rejoiced. * j Delighted beyond the power of! words, his face and eyes aglow, the! operating surgeon emerged from the' room unable to continue—for thej moment—with the pressing burden ofi I ultra-delicate healing surgery that) awaited his hand. The surgeon indicated each man would be able to leave 1 the hospital seeing as perfectly as any I ordinary human. * j Like wildfire the news of the successful' outcome of the operation leaped from mouth to mouth throughout the hospital, infecting all with excitement, nurses, doctors, penniless clinic patients, newsmen, humble scrubwomen. Telephones jangled and lights flashed interminably on the switchboard. A harried operator sought to fend away a curious •world. Sends Air Mail Letter. Before the bandages were replaced on his eyes during the period of strengthening his new vision, Mr. Harding's first j written words after he knew he had I regained his sight were to his nine-year-jold daughter Betty Lou. In an air" mail I letter received by the little girl in Portland, Oregon, Mr. Harding expressed the .hope that when he returned home lie | would be able to see his blonde, brownjeyed daughter clearly for the lirst time. He had been blind for 43 years. .1 Bettys father told her "lie could "disjtinguish light from dark, even through i|bandages," and that he could easily tell j"when the window curtain moved in . the breeze." - "I'm sure glad," said Betty Lou. > While the eyes of the surgical world ? were fixed upon the dramatic operation ; and its successful outcome, it traiir=;iire<l ; that the second patient to receive r I eyesight was Arthur Morton, aged 20 sja gifted young pianist, now living ir I Sacramento. ij Beside young Morton when the ban 1 dages were removed in a =cene of ten<=e>i • J drama, was tlie girl of his choice, Miss

'■Charlotte Boley, a Sacramento high' l school student. Mi« Boley and her 'father. Charles W. Boley, came to San Franci>eo and remained the entire time young Morton was in the San Francisco j hospital. Their romance began in the State capital three years ago at a high, •school football game. Morton was a. piano instructor and student at the .•school. Miss Boley was a student thero ialso. tromance in Air. | Charlotte's sister, Lota, said: "Charlotte wanted to be interested in the saws | things as Arthur, so she took up piano :and violin studies again. He helped her iand she helped him. They are so in love Jwith each other and we expect them to |be married shortly. After a brief interlude of light and I colour, the tender orbs, the tiny stitclio* j retracting, were protected with* new surIgical dressings. and the cleric and tho 'pianist went back iuto darkness for a 'jWeek, when the bandages were removed 1 permanently. Morton, iiis education » interrupted during his freshman year in > high school, when his eyesight suddeulv failed, planned to go back to school, and. 5 Mr. Harding announced his intention of T resuming his church duties in Portland,. r Oregon.