Project 9 - Persuade with Power

Priceless Gift

21st Oct 2006. The whole Bangalore was celebrating Diwali, the festival of lights. Bursting crackers, wearing new clothes, eating sweets, visiting relative’s houses, watching the special program in television. The Gowri puja was being performed in some houses. On this noisy day, Master Prem Singh was just confined to the room doing nothing. He wanted to kill his solitude and run amidst of children. But, he could not. He suffered from corneal blindness.

Honorable Judges, Mr. Toastmaster, Fellow toastmaster and my dear friends,

Corneal Blindness is an eye disease which makes people blind. The cornea becomes cloudy due to
Injuries
Chemical burns
Malnutrition
Infection
Congenital disorders
Post operation complication/Infection

Master Prem Singh too was a victim of this disease due to malnutrition and Infection. Prem was born in a middle class family. His father was a teacher in physics. His mother was a housewife. He had one sister studying 5th standard. Prem was in 7th standard when he was hit by a bicycle. His father provided him medication in a local government hospital. He recovered fast. However, the infection in the eye spread which blocked his eye sight. His father tried his level best to get his son’s eye sight. The doctors just replied, Only Transplantation of eye can help.

My dear friends, we have thousands of Prem Singh in this world.

Yearly around 40,000 people loose eye sight due to corneal blindness. Majority of them are children. Money , wealth cannot help these children as there is no substitute to human tissues. If we need Prem Singh to get his eye sight, it is us who have to take the first step. We should all be aware that eye donation after death. This shall enable the other person to regain eyesight.
I could see that each one of you here would like to know what you could do to help Prem Singh’s see?
Pledge your eyes and carry the registration card along with you. This helps the nearby persons to fulfill your last wish to donate eyes. However, If one dies before registering himself in a eye bank for the noble cause, the Kith/Kin can authorize the eye donation on behalf of the deceased.
Celebrities like Aishwarya Rai, Amitabh Bhachan, Zahir Hussain, Pandit hari Prasad Chaurasia, Alarmelvalli, Jaya Bachan, Saint Jeer of Sri Vaishanva Mutt have not only pledged their eyes but do participate in the noble cause for spreading the message.

All you have to do is
Call the nearest eye bank / eye hospital or 1919 and inform about the death within 6 hours of death
Switch off the fan and put on the cooler / AC
Place moist cotton on the closed eye lids and an ice cube on top of it.
Place a pillow under the head.

The Eye bank official will come and collect the eyes. It is a 15 min process. This does not cause any disfigurement. This does not cost us anything. In turn the family can have a satisfaction that they have lightened the life of two blind persons.

Today around 15,000 eyes are collected per year from the deceased through our various eye banks. This is less than 50% of the demand in our country.
Just a final note of caution.
Person suffering from AIDS / Hepatitis B, (Viral Infection spread thru bloodstream affecting vital organs),Leukemia, (Disease related to Bone Marrow), Rabies (Fatal viral disease, transmitted by the bite of warm-blooded animals like dogs), Cancer with Metastasis to Head and Neck (Transmission of pathogenic microorganisms/cancerous cells thru blood vessels), Encephalitis (Inflammation of the brain),Hodgkins Lymphoma(Cancerous growth of cells in the Lymph system of the body) will not be able to donate eyes.

Dear friends, Are you all ready for the noble cause?
Will you all stand by the grief to help the needy Prem Singh?
Why Bury or Burn when we can gift sight to two.

Thank you.

Mr. Toastmaster