'Dad donated organs, now someone has done it for me'

A man who is due to undergo a cornea transplant said he has "come full circle" as he benefits from the same type of organ donation that his late father also gave.

Ben Cronin, 33, from Wrentham, Suffolk, has a progressive eye condition known as keratoconus - where the cornea becomes thinner and bulges into a cone shape.

He said he feels grateful that an organ donor is now doing the same for him and hopes his life will change after the transplant, due to take place on 22 September.

He said: "With surgery, it's a mixture of emotions, it's daunting but it's also exciting but in the back of my mind, there's the knowledge that a family has lost a loved one."

Cronin said: "It's a relief so I can start a new chapter in my life with it.

"Without that amazing person in their family then that wouldn't be possible."

Cronin was listed for his transplant at the James Paget University Hospital in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.

He is a qualified pharmacy dispenser, but has had to give up paid employment and now volunteers for the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital NHS Foundation.

Cronin's father Ben, from Halesworth, died in 2011 at the age of 69 after contracting pneumonia and sepsis, but was able to donate his corneas and save the sight of two people.

Cronin said he had not been diagnosed when his dad donated his corneas, adding:

"That is what makes this so special, because it is full circle. I've been on both sides of it now.

"It is a horrifying situation, you don't wake up in the morning thinking you are going to have to say goodbye to the person you love.

"But knowing that they are going to go on to help a lot of people is a huge thing."

Cronin said he began studying a forensic science foundation year in 2012 at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, but visited the GP at the age of 20, when he started to struggle to see through the microscope.

At the age of 27, he took a once in a lifetime trip to America but was left devastated as, even wearing glasses, he struggled to see famous landmarks including the Hollywood sign and the Grand Canyon.

Cronin said: "We were standing on the North rim, so you're standing on the edge of it, the Grand Canyon, and you can see right into it and I just could not see it properly."

His eye condition meant it took him 10 years to complete his degree. He now dreams of retraining as a specialist nurse in organ donation.

Cronin said the transplant "will just mean that I won't have to constantly struggle," adding that he has needed treatment on a high intensity unit after being unable to read allergy warnings on food packets.

"Knowing that I know I'm going to have this great and amazing gift - my mental health has already improved.

"You are changing someone's life but you could also be saving someone's life."

The NHS has urged more people to agree to donate their eyes after death to "help the thousands of people not able to see properly, bringing down the waiting list and reducing waiting times".

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