Drew is a big game hunter and has been hunting since he can remember. He left home for college in 2011 and noticed it was getting harder and harder to see the board in his classes. He chalked it up to being tired and staring at computer screens too much.

“In the summer of 2015 while out target shooting with some friends, I put the rifle scope up to my eye to line up my cross-hairs and realized I couldn’t see anything. The target was all blurry, and I couldn’t get my scope to focus. I thought something was wrong with my scope.”

It was after that that Drew noticed he was having major vision problems. “I must have adjusted without even realizing it. Then once I realized it, I noticed it was harder to see street signs and computer screens. With my left eye closed, I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. I noticed it in every aspect of my day once I paid attention to it.”

He went to the eye doctor thinking he would need glasses, however that was not the case. Drew was diagnosed with Keratoconus in his right eye and told he would need a cornea transplant. Thinking it would be a long recovery process he decided to finish college first. He graduated in May 2017 and in December 2017 had the transplant surgery.

He still has some stitches in his eye but noticed a significant improvement in his vision. He hopes to have 20/20 vision once all the stitches are removed and with the help of a contact lens.

“Once you lose sight, you realize how much all those little details and subtle color changes that you once took for granted are some of the most important things to seeing.”