Nominated by fiancé:
Waking up, and not looking for your glasses just to see your daughter’s beautiful face. This would be a dream to my fiancé Justin. No one is more deserving of this surgery than him. Justin is a wonderful father and friend. Having poor eyesight has put a cloud over his life and daily activities for a long time now. 4000 dollars might not seem like a lot for most. But to us that's a life time of saving. Justin works 16 hour days, and works on his days off just to keep our head above water. We have a 21 month old daughter (Aubrey) who brings sunshine into our world. But over the last 2 years we have discovered the hardships that life can bring. Even with both incomes, we just make due every month.
Justin has dreamed of getting his eyes fixed ever since I met him. But it seems that as soon as we start to get ahead, something happens. Doctor bills for Aubrey, day care price raises, the fridge goes out. And he always puts himself second to make sure that we have what we need.
Justin is involved in his work. He is a pepper ball instructor for the state penitentiary. This means he gets to show people how it feels to be shot with the launching systems if any volunteers dare to stand in front of him. He is also on the penitentiary's correctional emergency response team (CERT) team. Just being able to put on his riot gear without his glasses in the way would be a dream to him. Imagine tying to see out of a protective mask when your glasses are fogging over, and not being able to take off that mask to wipe the glasses off. Another problem he faces is trying to see when wearing his gas mask; obviously he cannot wear his glasses with the gas mask for it won’t seal around his face properly and he will end up breathing in the gases.
Even doing what he loves, it's a challenge. Justin's one passion in life is hunting. And not having good sight affects that. He is a bow hunter and being able to see his sights with the bow pulled back is a challenge. Being able to look through a sight on a gun, for leisure time or at work also poses problems for him.
He is planning on joining the Army National Guard at the beginning of 2009. Being able to go though basic training and school, without being held back by his eyes, would be the greatest thing for Justin. All he wants is to make sure than Aubrey (daughter) and I are taken care of. Well this is something that would improve his life and make him truly happy.
I can’t express to you how much this surgery would mean to both of us. Justin is a hard working person and a great father. This surgery would improve his life in more ways than a person can think of. His eyes are the only thing that is holding him back, on the job, in the army, and just for having fun.