Russell Turnbull lost eyesight in his right eye when a squirt of ammonia shot into it as he intervened in a fight between two men. The chemical caused significant damage to his right eye and was diagnosed with a condition called Limbal Stem Cell Deficiency (LSCD). LSCD is very painful and requires many trips to the hospital for care. Because he had this rare condition, doctors used him as a guinea pig in stem cell trials. Fifteen years after the frightful incident, Turnbull was miraculously cured of blindness thanks to the stem cells. The treatment involved taking small samples of stem cells from his healthy eye’s cornea, growing it in the lab, and implanting them into his damaged eye. Only eight weeks after the operation, Turnbull regained full eyesight in his right eye. He was cured of blindness. He remains “one of eight patients with impaired vision who have been treated successfully by surgeons at the North East England Stem Cell Institute.”
Though this treatment surely won’t cure all blind people, it is a huge step in the right direction for science and health. Stem cell research is a controversial topic in today’s heated political and religious debates. No matter what side you stand on, you cannot deny that this miraculous story of Turnbull and the advances in science and technology are pointing to a brighter future where incurable diseases become curable ones.