On a summer morning, Dan Requier woke up with blurry vision in one eye. Thinking nothing of it, he rubbed his eyes and got out of bed, expecting the blurriness to dissipate.
Strangely, the feeling persisted. Dan assumed it would go away on its own, but it had now been almost two hours and he was beginning to suspect something could be wrong. Dan is a small business owner installing epoxy flooring – so his vision is vital to his livelihood.
Dan called his wife, Shanna, and she was concerned. Born with a retinal issue, she’s a long-time patient of Toronto’s Donald K. Johnson Eye Institute at University Health Network (UHN). She convinced him to see an eye doctor at UHN, where she knew he would receive the very best care.
Luckily, an appointment was available that day and Dan made his way from Kitchener, where he was working, to UHN’s Toronto Western Hospital.
She was right to worry: Dan’s retina was becoming detached. According to the doctor, he needed immediate surgery to save his vision.
The procedure was relatively quick and painless – Dan felt as though it was only five minutes long. The surgeon reattached his retina and his vision immediately improved. However the recovery process was long and difficult. He could barely go outside for the first few months, as the sunlight was too harsh for his eye. While it was a very traumatic experience for Dan and his wife, he’s glad to have received excellent care.
“The whole ordeal was incredibly scary, but my amazing surgeons put me at ease every step of the way,” says Dan. “The level of care was unreal. When I had a bad reaction to the eye drops late one night, my doctor came back to the hospital just to see me.”
Today, Dan is back to enjoying life with Shanna, their two-year-old daughter Georgia and their newborn baby, Amaya. His vision is not exactly the same as it was before – he now has to wear glasses – but if not for the care he received at UHN, the outcome could have been much, much worse.
“As we raise our young family, we’re incredibly thankful to have access to such outstanding health care,” says Dan.
Dan knows how precious his eyesight is, and he takes nothing for granted – including the generosity of donors who make care like he received possible.
A gift of any size can make a difference and help achieve extraordinary things in health care. For decades, gifts in wills to UHN have supported medical breakthroughs that have transformed health care here and around the globe. These gifts ensure a safety net of funding for UHN’s future needs – from attracting the brightest medical minds, to fuelling the next major discovery that will save lives.
A gift in your will could be your legacy – making an impact on health care for generations to come. Learn more at UHNfoundation.ca/mylegacy.