Grantham and Dr. Shachar Tauber

For most people with vision problems, undergoing laser vision correction may offer a new job opportunity, a better golf game, and of course, the freedom of not having to wear glasses or contact lenses.

For 26-year-old quadriplegic Mark Grantham of Springfield, the procedure offered one step closer to the independent life he enjoyed before an accident while life guarding at his church’s day camp two years ago.

“Before the surgery, I’d have to rely on family members and home health aids to put my glasses on or my contacts in just so I could see when I woke up in the morning,” Grantham says. “For me, it’s a huge thing to not have to depend on anyone for sight.”

Grantham, who receives his physical therapy at St. John’s, was granted the surgery in May by St. John’s Foundation for Community Health, as part of the national Focus on Independence program. St. John’s ophthalmologist Shachar Tauber, M.D., performed the procedure, which Grantham says went seamlessly, at St. John’s Surgery Center.

“However trivial most people see dealing with glasses and contacts, for Mark, it was an added dependence,” Dr. Tauber says. “It was obvious to the staff and me that we wanted to make this happen for him. The day of his surgery was very uplifting and a morale booster for all of us.”

The procedure took less than 20 minutes and Grantham now enjoys 20/15 vision. His fiancée Brittney Morrison watched the procedure on television from a viewing room.

In 2005, Los Angeles eye surgeons Robert Maloney, M.D. and Daniel Durrie, M.D. - both of whom Dr. Tauber considers mentors – launched Focus on Independence, a national program to provide free LASIK surgery to quadriplegics. The two physicians hope to create a network that offers a participating surgeon within an hour of every quadriplegic in the United States.

“I don’t have to convince anyone that fumbling with glasses and contacts is a nuisance for others but can be truly limiting for quads. LASIK surgery is a small way to make a big improvement in their quality of life, a way to really increase their independence,” says Dr. Maloney, principal of the L.A.-based Maloney Vision Institute and the “Eye Guy” featured on the television show “Extreme Makeover.”

Grantham heard about the Focus on Independence program during his three-month rehabilitation at Colorado’s Craig Hospital after undergoing neck stabilization surgery at Cox South Hospital immediately following the accident.

Once home, he contacted Focus on Independence, and Dr. Durrie called Dr. Tauber personally to ask him to perform Grantham’s LASIK.

While LASIK has become fairly routine in the past decade, it is still surgery.

“We don’t have a come-one, come-all registration process for the doctors,” Dr. Maloney says. “I wanted only the best for this program, and I know who those guys are.”

Presently the Focus On Independence program is limited to people over the age of 18 who have suffered a traumatic spinal cord injury and have little to no use of their hands or arms, making it difficult or impossible to handle glasses or contacts without assistance. For more information, please visit focusonindependence.org or call 913-234-4119, ext. 7242.