Fun Eye Fund!

SHORT VERSION: I’m ready for a Fun Eye! I wear a prosthetic eye everyday, and I’ve decided to get new one made: green, same color as my dads eyes. All proceeds go toward the fun eye as a birthday gift to me, and any extra will go to the Ocularis NGO that my occularists work with, which you can read about here .

LONG VERSION:

In 2017, I lost my left eye in a surf accident. Over the years, I’ve had to rebuild my confidence, especially in how I look, because I now wear a prosthetic eye everyday. The first one I got was custom-made to match my eye color. I remember thinking, “Great, this will fix me and I’ll go back to normal!” Instead, I struggled to accept my new “face” and learn to live with the limitations. While it is blessing and does give me a chance at normalcy, it didn’t “fix” me and if anything, its forced me on a hard journey to learn to love myself again, and to accept my injury, disability, prosthetic, and my new identity.

I’ve reached a point where I’ve embraced this part of me, and now want to celebrate it further! I’ve seen in this “one-eyed” community the coolest trend of “fun eyes”. Some people are super creative and get glow in the dark, cyborg or rainbow eyes…In this case, I just want to make a fun eye in my favorite color, green, in the same shade as my dad’s eyes. No one inherited his green eyes in my family, so I think it’s kind of special that I get to do so, and transform my pain and trauma into something beautiful.

I don’t usually make a big deal of my birthday, but this year I’ve decided, I want my fun eye. It would be even more meaningful and special to know people helped support me in this journey and this decision to embrace my beauty and fun side.

So for my birthday, I’m asking my friends and family to contribute to this fun eye fund so that I can get my green eye in mid April! Of course, a custom eye is NOT cheap. I’m not sure how much I can realistically collect, but anything will help. If by some wild chance I surpass the amount, I’m going to donate the proceeds to the charity that my occularist works with—and NGO where those same occularists teach this very niche skill to marginalized communities.

Whether or not you can donate, thank you for the love and support! I appreciate each and every one of you :)