Olympians team to Swim for Sight

U.S. Olympic swimmer Missy Franklin and U.S. Paralympic swimmer Brad Snyder are teaming up to Swim for Sight to help cure blindness during the 2016 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Swim Trials and as they go for gold in Rio.

Donate to Swim for Sight, share a photo of your eye on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram with #SwimForSight, and tag at least three friends to do the same.

“I am so excited to support Swim for Sight,” said four-time Olympic gold medalist Franklin. “Swim for Sight has been absolutely incredible in pledging that for every $25 donation they receive they will give one free sight-restoring surgery to someone in need.”

Franklin currently holds several swimming records, the world record in the 200-meter backstroke (long course) and American records for both the 100-meter and 200-meter backstroke (long course).

For Snyder, the global blindness cause is very personal. While serving in Afghanistan, the United States Navy veteran lost his eyesight in 2011 after an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion. He went on to join the United States Paralympic team winning two gold medals and one silver,at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London.

“Since losing my eyesight I know what it’s like to be left in darkness, but it brings me great joy to shed light on curable blindness and help others get sight-restoring surgeries,” said Snyder. “Swim for Sight is such an important partnership to me. Being blind in a developing country can be a death sentence. To be able to bring awareness to the global blindness issue and help others see is amazing.”

Swim for Sight is championed by Michael Feilmeier, M.D., and UNMC, who with their Swim for Sight ophthalmic partners — ASCRS Foundation, Himalayan Cataract Project, Orbis International, Gift of Sight, SEE International, SightLife, SEVA Foundation, Lions Eye Bank of Nebraska and Wills Eye Hospital — will perform the sight-restoring surgeries.

“I am so pleased that Missy and Brad have partnered with us to make Swim for Sight a success,” Dr. Feilmeier said. “Thanks to their help and the support of UNMC we will be able to help even more patients around the world.”

Dr. Feilmeier met Missy Franklin last year at an awards banquet in Nashville, Tenn., where both he and Franklin were recipients of the TOYA (Ten Outstanding Young Americans) Award.

Since 2011, Dr. Feilmeier and his team have performed more than 3,000 life-changing surgeries and trained eye surgeons in Haiti, Ethiopia, India, Nepal, Ghana, and the Dominican Republic. Earlier this year, Dr. Feilmeier and his team traveled to Ethiopia where they performed 953 Surgeries in four days. The outreach is documented in the this video.