'It's a miracle': Father donates the gift of sight

CHICAGO - A Chicago woman is literally seeing the world through her father’s eyes.  

She was born with a condition that made her blind. When her father unexpectedly passed away last year, he gave her the miracle of sight.

"My father had diabetes, and he had recently had cataract surgery, because of those conditions we didn't even consider him as a transplant donor," said Crystal Jones of Chicago. "He always said it was him that discovered that I was visually impaired because he ended up taking me to the hospital when I was like six months old to find out what was going on, so he was very proud of that fact."

When Crystal was born, her eyes weren’t fully formed, making her legally blind. As she was exploring a stem cell transplant to improve her vision, the unexpected led to a miracle.  

"It was kind of an amazing thing that after he passed he was able to bless me with sight. So it's bittersweet," said Crystal.  

Despite facing blindness himself, Crystal’s father was a perfect match for the transplant. Days after his passing, Crystal received his stem cells in both of her eyes.  

"I love him and I appreciate him and I know he's dancing in heaven so excited that he was able to donate his stem cells to me," she said.  

The process was overseen by Eversight, a global nonprofit eye bank network founded in Chicago in 1947. 

"We've had many cases where we've had someone who's actually blind but the cornea, the surface of the eye is still fine so they're able to provide someone else the gift of sight. Every donor can provide the gift of sight to two additional people," said Eversight CEO and President Diane Hollingsworth.  

Eversight believes Crystal is the first recipient to ever receive cells from a deceased parent. Now, Crystal can read again and see the happiness on her family’s faces.  

"I'm just so blessed, it's a miracle and I'm just so grateful," she said.