Legacy Gift Honors My Grandmother
I’ve spent 35 years building a career in public interest work, and I have had the honor to work for Prevent Blindness for the past 19, currently serving as its president and CEO.
Throughout my life, I have felt it important to support the people and causes in which I believe. While at Prevent Blindness, I have always made an annual gift. Last year, I decided to step-up this commitment by naming the organization as a beneficiary of my trust.
Beyond my belief in giving back, I have a deeply personal reason that compelled me to make this lifelong commitment to Prevent Blindness—my grandmother, Mary Todd Rebscher.
I grew up under the watchful care of this wonderful woman, who was kind, loving and deeply proud of the family she had nurtured, including three sons and eight grandchildren. She also had a career as a nurse, and I’ll never forget her reaction when my sister decided to enter the nursing profession. “Gram” beamed!
Then, in the 1990s, she began to lose her sight. I didn’t know the specific cause then, nor did I care. I just knew it changed her. She went from being a spirited woman to one who struggled with finding a will to live. This depression, directly connected to her loss of vision, exacerbated other health conditions, leading to her untimely death.
Not until I joined the team at Prevent Blindness was I able to put a name to the culprit that took my grandmother from us prematurely—age-related macular degeneration, or AMD. While there were no treatments available in the ’90s that would have slowed her vision loss, there were resources that could have helped her deal with the psycho-social impact of her condition had any of us been aware of them.
And so, to honor the memory of this incredible woman and to help advance equitable access to eyecare, awareness and support services, I proudly made my legacy gift to Prevent Blindness. If you, too, have made a legacy gift or are considering one, please let us know so that you can join me in our Pulliam Legacy Society.
Jeff Todd
President and CEO, Prevent Blindness
Her Gifts to the Vision Profession Continue 
Judith Hall was a vision professional whose commitment to eye care inspired a lasting legacy. Beginning her career in the 1970s, when few women worked in the field of ophthalmology, she spent the better part of her life treating those with eye disease. She also traveled extensively and was involved with vision research studies across the globe. Even after her passing in October of 2020, her impact on vision health continues thanks to her careful planning for future support of Prevent Blindness and other organizations sharing her vision.
Ms. Hall was raised in New England before marrying, moving away and having a son and daughter. When her marriage ended, she moved back to New England to raise her young children. Ms. Hall went back to school and received a degree in ophthalmology, serving as a pioneer for women entering the vision field. After moving to Norwood, Massachusetts, she began working for Dr. George Violin, a renowned ophthalmology specialist in the Boston area. While working at his practice, she became interested in the treatment of eye diseases and enhancing the quality and availability of patient care.
Going places was something Ms. Hall had always enjoyed, and when the opportunity allowed, she became a world traveler while continuing her vision work. She spent four years living in Barbados and working with a National Institutes of Health clinical eye study related to diabetes research. Her travels and professional expertise then took her to Singapore, where she continued her work on another research study in that country.
Ms. Hall’s life was not just about vision health but included travel and family. When she retired in Sarasota, Florida, she continued to see and do many things, including trips full of activities such as scuba diving and taking her grandson horseback riding, camping and visiting the Grand Canyon. Like the rest of us, Ms. Hall’s life and legacy have been influenced by her many experiences.
Ms. Hall had been a supporter of Prevent Blindness during her life, and she wanted to ensure her legacy as an eye care professional helping others. According to her son, Dennis, “She was very thoughtful in how she planned her estate. She was clear in putting down her wishes to help her family and the organizations doing work she cared about.”
Thanks to her planning, Prevent Blindness was a charitable beneficiary of her life insurance policy. Through this planned gift, Ms. Hall continues to support the work of Prevent Blindness in educating the public on vision care and eye diseases and empowering individuals to access strategies to preserve sight.
You, too, can support vision health with a life insurance or other estate gift. Please contact us for more information about supporting our mission.
Prevent Blindness Aids in Return of TED Med
Vicki Grant was a healthy, active woman when she started to have pain and shooting lights in her eyes. Headaches and dizziness soon followed. Shortly thereafter, she was diagnosed with Graves’ disease and thyroid eye disease (TED). Prior to receiving treatment, her left eye looked huge and was bulging, angry and red. “I found it hard to sleep because I couldn’t keep my eyelid closed. I had headaches, light sensitivity and blurred and double vision. I worried I would scare my grandbabies with my big eye. My husband has been amazing, putting drops in my eye every night, driving me to appointments and telling me I was beautiful. I didn’t believe him. I felt hideous.”
Vicki says she had to find many adaptive strategies to continue to work. Double vision was a real issue—to the point that she had to cover one eye to read, and for a time she was unable to drive with confidence. “My depth perception and night driving abilities were just not there,” she recalls. In addition to such symptoms, she says she aged quicky in appearance, and the disease caused her to gain weight, lose her hair and experience significant dental and skin issues. “TED, of course, can make you feel so ugly,” she says. “Most of us with TED also have Graves’ disease, which can cause depression, anxiety and even something called ‘Graves’ Rage.’ Many online forums have had folks talk about suicide. It breaks my heart. Having TED as well just compounds the emotional stress.”
TED medication production halted
In December 2020, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) halted the production of Tepezza to allow for increased production of COVID-19 vaccinations. This resulted in a shortage of Tepezza. Patients who were in the middle of their eight-week treatment cycle, like Vicki, had their treatments disrupted immediately. For weeks, there was no certainty as to how long the shortage would last or when patients would be able to access treatment again.
During the Tepezza shortage, Vicki was kept on medication for her Graves’ disease and was monitored more frequently by her doctors and had more blood work. At that point, she had received six of the eight infusions, and she hoped her condition would remain status quo. Instead, her symptoms returned.
Helped to bring back Tepezza
With the possibility of drug shortages if a vaccine for COVID-19 was approved, Congress granted the FDA authority to ensure other lifesaving and medically necessary treatments could continue during the vaccine rollout. To help bring awareness to the drug shortage and ensure that the FDA was using this authority granted by Congress, Prevent Blindness teamed up with the Vision Health Advocacy Coalition—a group comprised of patient advocates, vision and eye care provider organizations, vision research advocates and interest groups with a mission to protect patient access to treatments—to initiate a public awareness and advocacy campaign to the FDA.
Prevent Blindness focused on the debilitating effects of TED and requested that the public encourage the FDA to resume production of Tepezza alongside the COVID-19 vaccine. Prevent Blindness participated in informational webinars hosted by the Vision Health Advocacy Coalition. Patients like Vicki helped persuade the FDA to allow production of Tepezza to resume. Tepezza is readily available again, thanks to the power of advocacy and the patient voice! With the continued support of our loyal friends, we are able to make a difference in the lives of those who need it most.
A Lifelong Commitment to Improving Eye Health 
Ohio resident Marcus J. Molea, AICP, has continually worked to improve the lives of others. As a division chief at the Ohio Department of Aging for almost 25 years through his retirement in 2019, he was responsible for state programming associated with Ohio’s federal Older Americans Act. Among topics he focused on were disease management and prevention.
His passion for improving public health began at home. His father was a surgeon, and his mother was a microbiologist. He saw first-hand the tremendous, positive impact that access to healthcare had on his own community.
Due to his own family’s experiences, Mr. Molea also has seen the effects that vision loss can have on quality of life. His uncle had diabetes-related retinopathy, and his mother had age-related macular degeneration. Several family members, including Mr. Molea himself, had cataracts.
Mr. Molea began working directly with the Ohio Affiliate of Prevent Blindness in 2002, when it engaged the Ohio Department of Aging to establish Ohio’s Aging Eye Public Private Partnership. Throughout the years, Mr. Molea’s involvement expanded significantly to include serving as co-chair of the Partnership’s Advocacy and Awareness Committee and on the Partnership’s Vision Summit Planning Committee. Three years ago, he joined the board of the Ohio Affiliate of Prevent Blindness as an honorary member. This past year, he became a full member as well as chair of its Advocacy Committee.
“Marc is a perfect example of how one person can make a huge impact for many,” said Sherry Williams, president & CEO of the Ohio Affiliate of Prevent Blindness. “Marc is an outstanding volunteer leader and partnership builder in addition to serving as a vision screener helping educate seniors about the importance of regular professional eye care. Having him make the ultimate commitment to the organization through his estate plan is such an honor to us and our mission—to prevent blindness and preserve sight.”
Volunteeer work
But Mr. Molea’s commitment to Prevent Blindness does not stop there. At the national level, Mr. Molea is the chair of the Stakeholder Awareness workgroup of the Center for Vision and Population Health at Prevent Blindness. This workgroup raises awareness of the role of vision and eye health in the work of other key stakeholders, such as organizations serving older adults, those in primary health care and minority health organizations. He also serves on Prevent Blindness’s Public Health and Policy Committee and has participated in the annual Eyes on Capitol Hill patient advocacy event in Washington, DC.
Value in support
Mr. Molea generously volunteers his time to improve the vision and eye health of others. In addition to his volunteer work, he supports the work of Prevent Blindness with personal financial contributions. He recently updated his will, designating a significant gift to the Ohio Affiliate of Prevent Blindness. He found Prevent Blindness estate planning experts to be very helpful, suggesting that he make the donation as a percentage of his estate, which limits him having to make future changes if his estate value fluctuates.
“I totally believe in the Prevent Blindness mission, so it is easy for me to commit my time and money to Prevent Blindness,” said Mr. Molea. “I would encourage others to get to know Prevent Blindness by volunteering and learning about their programs. Once you do, you will see the importance and value of what they do and will, like me, want to support Prevent Blindness with contributions of your own.”
Legacy Gift Will Help Save Sight Today and In the Future
Today in the United States, it is estimated that more than 24 million people have cataracts, 2.9 million have glaucoma and 2.2 million have age-related macular degeneration (AMD). But for Patricia “Patti” Needham and her family, those are more than just numbers. Eye disease has directly impacted her family. She has witnessed firsthand how the loss of sight has affected both her father and brother.
Donald J. Cameron, Patti’s father, was a World War II veteran and self-made success story. Starting from humble beginnings, he established a very successful career in finance and banking, which included converting an old-fashioned savings and loan into the First Federal Bank for Savings of Des Plaines, Illinois. Over the years, he married and started a family.
However, as he aged, Donald began experiencing vision issues, as do so many across the globe. He had a detached retina, cataract and glaucoma.
Patti’s brother, Douglas L. Cameron, also developed eye disease later in life. For him, the diagnosis was wet macular degeneration. A confirmed bachelor, the eye disease slowly robbed him of his independence, which forced him to rely on friends and neighbors to drive him for simple errands, in addition to his frequent appointments with the eye doctor for treatment.
When Donald, and later Douglas, passed away, it was important to them to leave a lasting legacy to help others avoid what they had experienced: significant vision loss. That’s why they chose to make a generous donation to Prevent Blindness, the nation’s oldest volunteer eye health organization.
“From this gift, our family hopes to continue to help promote all efforts to find a potential cure for vision loss,” said Patti.
The gift will also go to support programs such as the Prevent Blindness Living Well with Low Vision free online resource at lowvision.preventblindness.org, which provides patients and their caregivers with a variety of tools including:
A self-help guide to nonvisual skills.
A visual skills workbook for people with AMD.
A guide to caring for the visually impaired.
A range of resource directories, including a searchable database of more than 1,500 paratransit services around the country.
“Helping families see clearly across the age spectrum is the core of our work,” said Jeff Todd, President and CEO of Prevent Blindness. “Thanks to generous families like Patti’s, Prevent Blindness can continue its mission of more than 100 years to prevent blindness and preserve sight for all.”
A Lifelong Commitment to Improving Eye Health 
While our good health and eyesight are often taken for granted, sometimes life delivers a wake-up call.
When Ohio resident Carolyn King was a child, she had no reason to believe there was anything wrong with her eyes or her vision. Like all children, she saw what she saw, and that was normal to her. Then it was discovered that she was blind in one eye. Eventually, young Carolyn was diagnosed with congenital posterior staphyloma in that eye—the back of her eye was misshapen, causing the loss of vision.
In 2018, her vision deteriorated and there was severe pain in the affected eye which led to its removal and Carolyn’s use of a prosthetic eye. After surgery, the pain disappeared and Carolyn’s outlook on the future was clear.
“I had always been thankful for my sight,” Carolyn said. “Now, by having the use of only one eye I am even more thankful for my vision.”
As a Prevent Blindness volunteer board member, she wants to remind everyone of the importance of taking good care of their eyes, including visiting your eye doctor regulary. Carolyn has celebrated her dedication of helping others protect their gift of sight with a very generous legacy gift to Prevent Blindness through an IRA and a life insurance policy. As she says, “It is so easy to make a legacy gift to Prevent Blindness to help support its sight-saving mission.” Prevent Blindness is grateful to Carolyn and her fellow legacy donors for helping to prevent blindness and preserve sight for all Americans.
To ask how you too can help, please call us.