On First Sight, World Looks Great
Eye surgery a success for Liberian
man visiting Albuquerque with
international group.

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Reprinted with permission
Albuquerque Journal
Saturday, August 26, 2006
By Debra Dominguez-Lund
Journal Staff Writer

He’ll see skies of blue, clouds of white, the bright blessed day, the dark sacred night, and, yes, just like the Louis Armstrong hit, he’ll think to himself, “What a Wonderful World.”

“I can see,” an excited Jeff E. Tarnue said Friday morning after his doctor removed a bandage from his right eye. “Words are inadequate. They can’t explain how grateful I’m feeling.”

Tarnue, a legally blind radio broadcaster from Liberia, underwent cataract surgery Thursday thanks to some Albuquerque friends who met him through an international visitors program.

“I see the chair, I see the desk… I see trees and houses,” said Tarnue, who was born with cataract disease clouding his eyes. “Now, I want to read, see a rainbow, movies and photographs of my life. I’ve never really seen any of those things.”

The 32-year-old, who is visiting the Duke City through the Albuquerque Council for International Visitors, thanks to his host family, Betty and Dana Davis, for transforming his life.

After meeting Tarnue earlier this month, the Albuquerque couple – members of the visitors council – arranged for him to have eye surgery at the Albuquerque Ambulatory Eye Surgery Center.

The Davises are raising money to pay for Tarnue’s surgery fees, which may come to more than $3,000, and have set up an account in his name.

“I never expected this when I came here,” said Tarnue, who arrived in Albuquerque on Aug. 5 and will stay until Sept. 14 under the visitors program.

The program, a volunteer arm of the U.S. State Department, “offers professional and cultural activities for foreign leaders, specialists and scholars.”

“I thank God for bringing me here, for putting Betty and Dana in my life and for speaking to them,” Tarnue said. “God does that, you know. He speaks and works through people.”

A lens implant was put in Tarnue’s right eye during Thursday’s surgery. Cataract extraction and a lens implant on Tarnue’s left eye is scheduled for Tuesday.

Dr. Ken Goldblum, who performed Thursday’s operation, said Tarnue will never have 20/20 vision because the pathway between his brain and eyes never fully developed as a result of being visually deprived for so long.

“He won’t be throwing away his cane anytime soon,” Goldblum said after evaluating Tarnue on Friday. “He’s still legally blind.”

But, “he will be able to read with glasses and has better distance vision now – he can see the E on the eye chart, which he couldn’t see before.”

The Davises said they couldn’t be happier with Tarnue’s results.

“If we’ve given this fellow some vision – it’s all been worth it,” Dana Davis said. “And who knows what opportunities this will open up for him in his profession and in his own country.”