Wrinkled Face Becomes A Joyous Miracle
I
For the first time in IS
years. Ruby Sauls looked at
herself in the mirror, ''and
there was an ugly woman."
"My face was wrinkled
and my hair white. The last
time I could see in the
mirror, my face was smooth
and my hair black."
It didn't seem fair. Mrs.
Sauls had endured years of
blindhess and undergone
three corneal transplants ?
two of them unsuccessful ?
to stand in front of that
mirror.
"1 had been almost IS
years without seeing me ? I
wanted to see me." she said.
? "When I saw that 1 had more
! wrinkles than a piece of
crepe de chine. I cried."
But Mrs. Sauls' disap
pointment was brief. The
wrinkles saddened her, but
the simple fact that she could
see them was a joyous
miracle.
to my sight and didn't know
it was going."
She and James had three
children ? Joyce, James Jr.
and Jack ? and then
adopted two more ? his
cousin. Dorothy Shalloup and
her cousin. Keba Jones.
"As the family grew, the
farm we had in Wayne
County was just not large
enough." she said. "We saw
an ad for a farm near
Bowdens for sale ? 120
acres. We bought it.
"You've heard of people
who had nothing. Well, we
had less than that. We were
wagging' with all that we
could wag in those days."
When their youngest son,
Jack, went to high school,
Mrs. Sauls went to work.
Eleven years later, her fail
ing eyesight began to over
take her seemingly bound
less energy.
"1 went to the best eye
completely blind in my left
eye, and the right one was
going fast."
Because eye tissue is so
fragileit will only tolerate
stitches once every two
years. Mrs. Sauls explained.
In 1971 she went to Mc
Pherson Hospital in Durham
for a second transplant on
her left eye.
"When they took the ban
dages off, I could see the
doctor's hairline, and I just. .
thought this was the answer
to all my prayers," she said.
But six weeks later, her
body was trying to reject the
second transplant.
"You talk about a kick in
the teeth," she said. "We
tried everything. 1 went to
McPherson every day or
every other day for weeks
and weeks. I had cortisone
shots in my eye. Finally it got
to the point where it didn't
hurt so much.
decided to transplant it in
stead.
"As bad as I wanted to
see, I'd try anything," Mrs.
Sauls said, and her faith was
rewarded: ''Eveo-thta**went
absolutely perfectly on the
third one. There was no pain.
I could see.
"When I walked out of the
hospital, I could see well
enough to count the hairs on
my arm. I could see birds fly
and 1 could see trees.
"I could see the blades of
grass, and I wanted to lie
down in it and roll down the
hill for joy.''
Most importantly, she
could see her granddaugh
ters for the first time as they
danced in a recital. Once
again, she could see James,
"the most compassionate
man that has ever been ?
I've had 48 years with him,
so I know what I'm talking
about."
Today, with the help of
thick glasses, Mrs. Sauls stilj
has 20/20 vision in her right
eye, and she plans to have
the left one transplanted
again.
She drives, speaking
"everytime I get,the chance"
to recruit eye wills, so that
others can experience the
miracle of restored sight as
she has.
"h's not that the public is
selfish ? the public is un
educated," she said. "Give
your eyes ? once you're
dead, it won't hurt and
somebody can see.
I
"You can't know what K
means to a blind person, f'm
so grateful that I can see
If heaven's any better than
that. I can't stand it. Lord.'*
Janmork
Reunion
There will be a reunion for
all former lanmark em
ployees on Saturday, July 30,
at the Albert son Community
Building beginning at S p.m.
Anyone who was employed
at Janmark during their 17
years of operation is invited
to come and bring their
tiusband or wife.
For more information call
S58-3494.
Mrs. Ruby Sauls
"1 just cannot describe in
words what it's like to be
blind 15 years and then see."
she said. "I don't thank the
Lord for what I look like ? I
thank the Lord that I can
see."
Mrs. Sauls' blindness is
caused by corneal dystrophy,
a hereditary disease in which
the cornea deteriorates
gradually until vision disap
pears. Although Mrs. Sauls
didn't realize she had corneal
dystrophy until 1968, she
suspected something was
wrong long before.
"Every once in a while
people would remark on
things they could see that I
couldn't," she said. "I
rf?ali7f? nnw that I mnlrf n#?v#?r
see what everyone else could
see, even as a child."
Mrs. Sauls, now 66, re
ceived a hint of the problems
to come at age 22, when she
and her husband, James,
bought their first house in
Wayne County.
"We had to have an
examination for the insu
rance," she explained. "The
doctor told me, 'You'll be
blind in 30 years.'
"We'd just bought a farm,
we had an 18-month-old and
we were expecting another
one. 1 knew beyond a shadow
of a doubt that doctor was
crazy ? I had too much to
look forward to."
For years, she lived a
normal life. "It wasn't diffi
cult, because 1 had adapted
doctor m uoldsooro. sne
said. "He told me, 'There's
nothing wrong with your
vision. Go home and put
bigger light bulbs in the
sockets,'
"I came home and tried,
but (when 1 read) my words
ran together. I cried and I
cried."
Her job, processing
patients' insurance at Duplin
General Hospital, became
difficult.
"Those insurance policies
are mean as a snake," she
said. "They start out with
great big type, but they
trickle down to fine print. I
knew my days of bluffing
were over. I could only see
f>nniioh tf*. o?*t arnnnH."
"""-6" ? ?'? ?
One morning in 1968, she
awoke with her left eye
completely bloodshot. She
didn't know ? she couldn't
see it.
The doctor in Goldsboro
diagnosed the disease as
corneal dystrophy and sent
her immediately to Duke
University Hospital for a
corneal transplant.
"It went haywire right
away," she said. "There
were 25 stitches and 25 knots
in my eye. It felt like they
were made of rope.
"When 1 came home, it
was agonizing pain, and it
went on like that for six
weeks. It was infected."
Despite more surgery to
restitch the new cornea, the
transplant failed. "1 was
"I could see well enough
to get around. With a magni
fying glass 1 could read my
Bible and my newspaper. I
just thought the portals of
heaven had opened.''
Although the second .
transplant gave Mrs. Sauls
incomplete vision, it lasted
for about five years.
When her left eye began to
fail. Dr. John Moore at
McPherson Hospital wanted
to do another transplant. By
this time, new techniques
had made the operation
simpler and less painful.
In 1979, just as he was
about to begin the operation,
Moore found her right eye to
be worse than the left and he
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