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Eyeing a chance
for a ‘normal life’
Local doctors, a teacher
By Suzanne Tswei
and the Shriners help a
Marshall Islands boy get
a much-needed operation
Star-BulletinSince a school bully stabbed him in the eye with a metal rod more than two years ago, Ted Korok has been wearing sunglasses to hide his right eye, which has gone blind and turned a ghostly white. The only time he takes the sunglasses off is when he goes to bed.
"He's very, very shy. He's very self-conscious about his eye. The other kids in his school all make fun of him because of his eye.
"He wears his sunglasses all the time. He doesn't want anybody to see his eye," said his aunt, Bernie Kabua.
When he woke up this morning, Korok may have put on his sunglasses for the last time. At noon today he was to undergo an operation to remove the blind eye and receive an eye implant. The operation will help restore the 15-year-old's appearance and prevent his remaining good eye from going blind.
"The operation will be really good for him. Our whole family is very grateful to the people -- so many people -- who helped him come to Honolulu for his eye," said Kabua, translating for Korok, who speaks little English.Kabua credits Penny Stoddard, a teacher at Korok's school, as the first person on a long list of good Samaritans who made the operation possible for the impoverished boy from the island of Ebeye in the Marshall Islands.
Korok met Stoddard, wife of the U.S. Army deputy commander on Kwajalein, when she came to teach at his school, Queen of Peace High School on a nearby island. Being new to the school last year, Stoddard knew nothing of Korok's disfigured eye.
"At the beginning of the school, we were trying to crack down on the boys who wore sunglasses to class," Stoddard said. "I saw he was the only one still wearing his glasses, so I asked him to remove the glasses."
As much as he was reluctant to reveal his blind eye in front of the whole class, he obeyed Stoddard's request.
"Slowly and obediently, he lowered his glasses. That's when I saw his eye. It was just a flattened colorless mass. There was no lens in his eye any more.
"He was very embarrassed, but because I was the teacher he went ahead and removed his glasses. I felt absolutely awful all day. I felt so horrible for embarrassing him that I basically cried all the way home when school was over," Stoddard said.
It was the first time Korok's classmates saw his disfigured eye, although they all knew the stabbing left him blind in one eye. He became the subject of ridicule and harassment more than ever.
Stoddard began to look for medical help for Korok, but by that time it was too late to restore sight to his eye that was injured in 1998. Korok had been treated in the Philippines after the stabbing, but the eye had become infected and contaminated.
Stoddard's phone calls and inquiries eventually led to Fred Safi, executive director of the Hawaii Lions Eye Bank and Makana Foundation. The two then arranged for the operation and an all-expenses-paid trip to Honolulu for Korok and his mother.
The Shriners organization on Kwajalein is paying for the round trip while the eye bank is donating the sclera (white part of the eye) necessary for the implant.
Dr. Jorge Camara, a surgeon who specializes in eye reconstructive operations, is performing the surgery for free. Once the implant takes hold, Korok will be fitted with an artificial eye custom made to match his other eye.
Honolulu ocularist Doss Tannehill will create the prosthetic eye at cost, which will be paid for by the Women's Club on Kwajalein. Dr. Efren Baria, an anesthesiologist, and St. Francis Medical Center also are donating their services and material for the surgery, which costs about $30,000.
The Marshallese government is paying for Korok's living expenses in Honolulu. Stoddard's husband, David, granted a special allowance for an American military doctor on Kwajalein to examine Korok to certify he is blind in one eye in order for him to receive the operation.
"The key person is really Dr. Camara. He's very gracious in agreeing to do the surgery for free. It will change Ted's life," said Stoddard, who spent eight months looking for help for Korok.
Camara said surgery is needed to ease the pain in the blind eye and give Korok a realistic-looking eye.
It also is necessary to prevent his other eye from developing a rare condition known as "sympathetic ophthalmia". The condition may occur when one eye is injured and the remaining eye becomes intensely inflamed, which may lead to blindness.
"It's rare, but there is a risk for him developing it. The surgery is mainly to give him a normal appearance. He's a young boy, he's got his whole life in front of him. The surgery will help give him a chance at having a normal life," Camara said.
The implant, a ball of coral wrapped in sclera, will be attached to the eye muscles to allow for natural eye movements, Camara said. Six to eight weeks after the operation, Korok will be fitted with an artificial eye made of acrylic.
"I know Ted is really looking forward to it. After I started to talk to him about the possibility of (this operation,) he started to talk more. He's very reserved, very shy, and it was just great to see the change in him," Stoddard said.
