Lions Eye Bank of Wisconsin Announces 2021 Crystal Vision Award Recipients

Madison, WI, July 07, 2021 --(PR.com)-- Lions Eye Bank of Wisconsin (LEBW) is excited to announce the award recipients for the Crystal Vision Awards. Since 2007, LEBW has honored advocates of donation who have shown commitment and dedication to raising awareness and educating communities on the importance of organ, eye, and tissue donation.

This year, LEBW honored 22 recipients from various categories – surgeons, hospitals, medical examiners, funeral homes and community partners. The 2021 Crystal Vision Award recipients continue to demonstrate a commitment and passion by sharing the mission of healing lives through the gift of transplantation and the support of their community. The following Crystal Vision Award recipients are:

Surgical Partner
· Dr. Thomas Harvey, Independent Vision Group, Chippewa Valley

Hospital Partner(s)
· Ascension Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital Milwaukee
· Ascension Mercy Oshkosh
· Aspirus Riverview Hospital
· Beloit Memorial Hospital
· Cumberland Healthcare
· Door County Medical Center
· HSHS St. Mary’s Hospital Medical Center
· Marshfield Medical Center – Marshfield
· Mercyhealth Hospital and Trauma Center – Janesville
· Osceola Medical Center
· Stoughton Hospital
· ThedaCare Regional Medical Center – Neenah
· Vernon Memorial Hospital
· Watertown Regional Medical Center
· Wisconsin Diagnostic Laboratories at Froedtert Hospital

Medical Examiner Partner
· Pamela Stock, Columbia County Medical Examiner’s Office

Funeral Home Partner(s)
· David Olson, Olson Funeral Home
· Steve and Deb Kysely, Church and Chapel, Ritter-Larsen Brothers
· Timothy Kratz, Kratz Funeral Home

LEBW is also honored to announce the third annual Lions Legacy of Sight Award recipient, Cheryl Stedman. The posthumous award will be presented to Cheryl’s husband, David. Cheryl was a kidney recipient, LEBW Transporter and volunteer, Jefferson Lions Club member and first female club president, UW Organ & Tissue Donation volunteer, Restoring Hope Transplant House supporter, and National Kidney Foundation of Wisconsin advocate. When Cheryl was diagnosed with lupus in 1989, it did not keep her from doing the things she loved; instead, it took her in another direction of service to her community and activist. Cheryl and her husband, David, promoted kidney disease education and organ, eye, and tissue donation and participated in various fun runs/walks and events to raise awareness.

LEBW is forever grateful to Cheryl for her impact on our community and the beautiful legacy she leaves behind. The Lions Legacy of Sight Award is presented annually to an individual outside the professional donation and transplantation community who has significantly impacted the public about donation and promoting donor registration on a state or national level.

LEBW serves thousands of donors and their families annually, placing more than 1,500 corneas with corneal surgeons in Wisconsin, throughout the United States, and around the world. LEBW’s purpose is to support donors and their families during their time of loss and facilitate the recovery of corneas for transplant, to restore sight to the visually impaired.

Currently, there are over 2,000 people that are on the waiting list for an organ transplant in Wisconsin and almost 108,000 people domestically. The impact of 1-donor can save up to 8-lives through organ donation, restore sight for 2-people and save and heal more than 75-lives through tissue donation. For more information about organ, eye, and tissue donation or to register as a donor, visit www.DonateLifeWisconsin.org.

LEBW is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization and a team of professionals and volunteers passionate about restoring sight, eliminating curable blindness, and advocating for organ, eye, and tissue donation. Our ultimate goal is to improve people’s quality of life through the gift of sight.