At First Sight
Dr. Paul Hahn of the Duke Eye Center reflects on the touching day last fall when patient Larry Hester became the seventh person in the country to receive a bionic eye
The room was emotionally charged when Dr. Paul Hahn counted down and then pushed a button turning on Larry Hester’s newly implanted bionic eye. For a split second, everyone in the room wondered if the blind man could see the light in front of him.
Larry startled, and a slow smile spread across Dr. Hahn’s face. “Yes,” Larry said. “Oh my goodness, yes.”
A man of science, Dr. Hahn wanted to do a second test. His initial skepticism faded as his patient identified where a brown door met a white wall, and Dr. Hahn knew the surgery’s results were “meaningful.”
“I think people talk about a sense of accomplishment or that rewarding feeling that you get and that’s why you become a physician, but I don’t think I’ve ever experienced that level of change in a patient until that day,” Dr. Hahn says.
Larry, a Raleigh resident, was the seventh person in the U.S. to receive the bionic eye, an Argus II Retinal Prosthesis Device. Dr. Hahn, a retinal surgeon at the Duke Eye Center, implanted the device in September 2014 and then waited three weeks to activate it on October 1, 2014.
For years, Dr. Hahn had been following the bionic eye technology as it was initially developed by Duke Eye Center and then enhanced and marketed by Second Sight Medical Products. When it became approved, he contacted Second Sight.
Larry also found out about the device and connected with Dr. Hahn August 2013. Now 67, he was diagnosed more than three decades ago with retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative disease that would cost him his sight.
While the device would not restore total sight, if successful
it would allow Larry to identify things like a doorway, a bright window or a crosswalk. But as the surgery approached, a pressing question remained unanswered: Would it work?
“We hoped it was successful, but I had to tell him we don’t know, and there was a possibility he might not see any benefit,” Dr. Hahn recalls.
Although the four-and-a-half hour surgery to implant the device was stressful, Dr. Hahn felt he and his team were well prepared. But from then on, as Dr. Hahn waited to activate the device, the feeling of control disappeared. Larry’s eye either would or would not support the recovery of vision, and the device either would or would not work – both variables out of the doctor’s hands.
On October 1, 2014, Dr. Hahn arrived early to set up the exam room. Although not the type to get nervous, he hadn’t slept well the night before. As Larry’s family arrived, he felt his nervousness mounting. “Neither of us wanted to disappoint the other,” Dr. Hahn says of his patient.
Worries quickly disappeared. He watched as family members responded with kisses, claps and smiles.
“I think that ability to make that type of difference is the reason I do what I do and why most physicians do what they do, and to see that type of difference a device like this can make is incredible and makes you want to do more,” Dr. Hahn says.
But for Dr. Hahn, the most rewarding part of the process is ongoing as Larry works with an occupational therapist to learn how to use the device. Dr. Hahn attends those sessions when his schedule permits and listens as Larry recounts his experiences of visually rediscovering the world around him.
“I think that first moment was emotional and powerful, but in kind of the way that is very dramatic,” Dr. Hahn says. “I think for me the thing that’s more emotional and powerful is the ongoing experiences and ongoing discoveries they make every day.” – Caitlin Owens
More About Dr. Hahn
The 39-year-old came to Durham five-and-a-half years ago to work at the Eye Center, where he spent his first two years in fellowship training before joining the faculty. A graduate of Harvard and then the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, the New York City native and his wife, Kathy, have an 18-month-old daughter, Allison.
“So many of our neighbors struggle to achieve and maintain good health. … [This position has] put my values, my experience and my skills to the test to see if I could make a meaningful contribution serving those in greatest need. Working here has been a privilege – certainly the greatest challenge of my professional life, but in many ways also the most rewarding.” – Dr. Howard Eisenson, Chief Medical Officer, Lincoln Community Health Center
Lincoln Community Health Center provides accessible primary and preventative health care. Dr. Eisenson graduated from the Duke University School of Medicine and spent 13 years as director of the Duke Diet & Fitness Center. He and his wife, Beth, a physical therapist, live in Durham.
“I’ve seen the devastating effect cancer can have on a person and their loved ones. My dad had cancer. My sister had cancer. I’ve lost aunts and uncles to the disease. One in two men and one in three women will get cancer in their lifetime. Only one-third of cancers are considered preventable – all the emphasis seems to be on the research and clinical side of cancer, and very little on what’s causing the other two-thirds of cancer diagnoses … Cornucopia is here to help [cancer patients] cope and hopefully thrive despite it all. It is extremely important work. I’m just trying to do my part because it’s the right thing to do.” – Mary Lawrence, President and CEO, Cornucopia Cancer Support Center
Cornucopia Cancer Support Center provides resources and support to anybody touched by cancer, from patients to caregivers, through innovative programs such as a walking group, a hospital art cart and yoga classes. Along with serving as president and CEO, Mary hosts the weekly radio show “That Cancer Show.” She conceptualized and instituted the program, which is the country’s first live radio show dedicated to non-clinical aspects of the cancer experience.
When I was 20 years old and pregnant, naive and scared, two certified nurse midwives, Pam Scudder and Janice Alexander, took the time to teach me that my body was an amazing thing and that it knew instinctively how to grow a baby and how to care for that baby if I would just listen to it. Not only that, but I as a woman was powerful and worthy of great respect. Through that experience I knew I was supposed to help other women feel empowered. I go to work every day because women deserve health care providers who listen to them and help them understand that they have control of how they are treated, especially within the medical community. I count it as a privilege to be with these women. – Mary Ellen Lowry, Nurse Midwife, Women’s Health Alliance Durham
Dr. Eleanor Easley, the first female in history to receive a four-year medical degree from Duke University, teamed up with Dr. Richard Pearse to form Durham Women’s Clinic in 1941. Mary Ellen began working at Women’s Health Alliance in 2011 when midwifery was reintroduced to Durham Women’s Clinic. She’s the mother of four and grandmother of four.
“When I first went to Haiti, it was the children who captured my heart. By education I am a pediatric nurse practitioner. Everywhere I looked I could see my own children in the faces of the Haitian children. I thought of their mothers and how they have the same hopes and dreams for their family as I have for mine. It was then that David and I realized – if we were really going to make a difference for women and children in Haiti, we needed to really commit to making change. That was when FHM became an official entity.” – Kathy Walmer, Executive Director, Family Health Ministries
Kathy co-founded Family Health Ministries with her husband, David, in 2000. David – an OB/GYN who Kathy calls “the visionary for the organization” – visited Haiti on a mission trip in 1993, and the experience resonated with him. The couple traveled back and forth many times before founding their Durham-based nonprofit, which supports and partners with Haitian health clinics, orphanages and more to develop best health care practices. They have five children ranging in age from 20 to 32, including a daughter adopted from Haiti.
“I serve due to my continued need to help this community be safer and less violent for all of our citizens. … Community discussion is always on crime. If [we] would just discuss more often the issues of mental health, [the] unhealthy abuse of all drugs and the direct impact it has on the health of our community – if we address these health issues, then we really do have a more peaceful community.” – Beverly “BJ” Council, Board of Directors Chair Elect, Durham Crisis Response Center
The Durham Crisis Response Center assists victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. BJ is the retired Durham County Deputy Chief of Police.
“I want to help other people. It makes me feel good. One of the things I do, with the help of my Dad, is pick up donations from the local farmers’ market and deliver them to our FIF offices so that families may receive much-needed healthy food.” – Julian Ballen, Volunteer, First in Families’ Durham chapter
First in Families of North Carolina enables those with developmental disabilities and traumatic brain injuries to fully participate in their community. The nonprofit offers family and individual support by meeting self-defined needs, from providing home furnishings and child care to organizing vocational and educational opportunities. When he was 4 years old, Durham native Julian was diagnosed with autism. Two years ago, Julian’s father, Dwayne, published “Journey with Julian,” a book about their family’s experiences with the disorder.
“I was always able to play sports and hang out with my friends anytime I wanted, but … every person doesn’t have that opportunity. This organization has everything I was able to experience growing up but for individuals with special needs. We have coaches and volunteers who care and love the kids; a ball game that helps every athlete be successful; opportunities for parents and families to sit in the stands and cheer on their child as they play baseball; [and] opportunities for athletes to make friends and be kids. I get so much more out of being a part of the Miracle League than I put into it just by getting to see … these athletes succeed and do things they never thought possible.” – Jessica Lloyd, Program Coordinator, The Miracle League of the Triangle
The Miracle League of the Triangle facilitates weekly baseball games for children with special needs in hopes of generating positive life experiences and the joy of community for both the players and their families. Jessica, a Durham resident, also works as a developmental therapist for children with special needs.
“I have been blessed with a servant’s heart. I believe it is my responsibility to care for, nurture and bring to fruition the best of what has been allotted me, to be used for my patients. I care because these people suffer spiritually, emotionally and physically at the end of their lives. Serving my patients enables me to meet each patient where they are in each of these aspects of their humanness and offer guidance and comfort.” – Patricia Ostergaard, Case Manager, Duke HomeCare & Hospice
Duke Hospice is the second-oldest hospice in North Carolina. Its services include both home-based and inpatient hospice services and grief counseling. A nurse for nearly 30 years, Patricia was recently named the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Hospice Caregiver of the Year.
Ed Note: These articles first appeared in our December/January 2015 issue.
