Page 8 - LGS Today Spring 2022

Donor Mary Zieba: A Life of Service
Mary Zieba was a remarkable woman who lived to help others. Her early career was spent serving adults with disabilities at Trevilla and then working at the Catholic Youth Center. After earning her nursing degree (while caring for four young children!), she began nursing on the Acute Med Surg floor at North Memorial, a place she felt guided her to her true passion—hospice care. She then spent 34 years in different hospice roles, caring for employees, patients, and families with the highest level of grace and compassion. In her work, Mary was a huge advocate for eye donation and for improving and streamlining the process for referring hospice donors.
Mary’s service, however, did not stop at the conclusion of the work day. She always felt a pull to do more. Volunteering at Sharing and Caring Hands to provide warm meals, clothing, and conversation to individuals
experiencing homelessness in Minneapolis. Hosting children from Northern Ireland. And adopting two children from Russia, giving them the chance to flourish and grow. Mary was a firm believer in hope and compassion, and in death, as in life, she was a giver. When she lost her fight with cancer, Mary became an eye donor and helped restore sight to two corneal transplant recipients.
For all she did in support of donation and her community, Lions Gift of Sight was honored to select Mary Zieba as an Eye Donation Champion in 2021.
Mary and her husband, Bruce.
Recipient Spotlight: Monica
Monica’s transplant journey started in 2012 with shingles (Zoster Opthalmicus) in her left eye. About a half million people in the United States contract shingles every year, and ophthalmic zoster is one of the more common manifestations. Monica endured infection after infection in her eye, finally experiencing a full corneal melt seven months later. She needed a corneal transplant to save her eye. A second transplant, after the first healed, then restored Monica’s sight. Her third transplant seven years later replaced the transplanted cornea whose cell count had decreased to a level that no longer afforded adequate vision.
Monica and her corneal surgeon, Dr. Sangita Patel.
Each of Monica’s corneal transplants was life changing for her. Transplants ensured that she could continue her work in her school district’s IT department (work that requires good vision). They made it safe for her to bike and easy for her to travel, pastimes she loves but couldn’t do or do as well when she struggled to see clearly.
“I am forever grateful to my donors, their families, and the many medical professionals without whom I would not have the vision I have today. Thank you for this amazing gift!”
8 Lions Gift of Sight