New focus for photographer Ralph

06 Apr 2021
Some people see the world through rose-coloured glasses but for photographic artist Ralph Kerle the world is an even more beautiful place. Thanks to a corneal transplant donor, he is seeing it through someone else’s eyes!
Ralph Kerle and Dr Petsoglou

Ralph's career in performing arts was looking bright when he started to lose sight in his right eye. In an even more distressing blow, the standard treatment of hard contact lenses didn't work.

He was diagnosed with keratoconus and he would go blind unless he had a complex corneal transplant.

"I was incredibly fortunate to find an authority in corneal transplants, Dr Lyon Robinson who has now retired, at Sydney Eye Hospital. He was absolutely fantastic. I found services to support me and for the first time, I felt hope. It was an enormous relief.”

Ralph's current ophthalmologist is Dr Con Petsoglou who, as well as performing corneal surgery, is deputy director of the NSW Tissue Bank for eye and tissue donations.

Doctors like Dr Petsoglou rely on Sydney Eye Hospital Foundation supporters to fund equipment, research, and supporting frontline staff and innovative programs. One such program is a new app to encourage eye tissue donations – just like the cornea donation that allowed Ralph to see.

The app is called Eye Donor Aust and it was created by a Sydney Eye Hospital nurse, Amy Chumkasian, with kind donations from Sydney Eye Hospital Foundation supporters, in partnership with the University of Wollongong, the University of Sydney, NSW Health and DonateLife.

Eye Donor Aust serves two vital purposes: First, it educates people about who can be an eye donor and how much benefit it gives others. Secondly, it makes it easier for people to register their wish to be an eye donor if the circumstances arise.

“Many people don’t know they can sign up to donate their cornea,” said Dr Petsoglou. “Even if you have sight problems or eye disease, you might still be able to donate your cornea because most diseases that cause blindness don't actually affect the cornea.

“This new app helps to encourage people to sign up as eye donors.”

As well as performing corneal surgery, Dr Petsoglou is also the Deputy Director of the NSW Tissue Bank based at Sydney Eye Hospital, which includes eye and tissue donations.

“We do about 150 transplants a year here at the Sydney Eye Hospital.”

“We also manage around 450 eye cornea donations each year, helping 800 people see well. But we need more people to donate their eye tissue after they pass away,” says Dr Petsoglou.

Ralph wishes he could thank the anonymous person who donated their eye tissue and is happy he can say how grateful he is to those who support The Sydney Eye Hospital Foundation which in turn supports the speciality service.

“Supporters of the Foundation are giving people a future. They are helping somebody to have a better life.”

“The Eye Hospital is one of the world’s best kept secrets. If you have anything wrong with your eyes, I would go to Sydney Eye Hospital every time, because they're world leaders.”