Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1983-04-10

              STATS HI.'. TCniC'iL SOCIETY
1012 LOARY UaC
CSL'JKSI. l, MO. 65211 '
'
Masters ail wet A man on his way ' Inn' Page 8B
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75th Year No. 178 Good Morning! It's Sunday, April 10, 1983 6 Sections 64 Pages 50 Cents
With donation,
Blind man sees again
By Cathy Seabaugh
Mlssourlan staff writer
For 4V4 years, 22- year-- old Robert
Hammond lived through something he
refers to as " absolutely horrible."
May 28, 1978, the Blackwater, Mo.,
resident was at work in Nelson, Mo.,
loading tanks of anhydrous ammonia
a chemical whose fumes alone are dan-gerous
to the eye when a hose burst
and sprayed his eyes.
Hammond was rushed to the hospital
in Marshall, Mo. That same day his
family took him to University Hosp-ital's
opthalmology clinic to see if physi-cians
there could help turn.
Hammond was blinded in both eyes.
" Two years later, when the doctor de-cided
his corneas were not going to im-prove
on their own, Hammond was told
about cornea transplantation. The doc-tor
told him as soon as the surface ves-sels
of the eyes were under control, and
a cornea was available, Hammond
would be given the chance to see again.
" At one tune, I started giving up
hope," Hammond says. " It had been so
long, I started thinking maybe they
couldn't do anything to help."
His three brothers and sister " hauled
him around" for four years and told
him it would get better, that things
would work out.
Hammond was put on a waiting list at
the lions Eye Tissue Bank in Columbia
in December. His doctor said Ham-mond
would have to wait about three
months for his donation.
But Hammond was lucky. He needed
a comea without scratches, and most
corneas that the eye bank receives have
minor scratches. So he was moved to
the top of the list
On the Tuesday before Christmas
1982, Hammond had an appointment
with his doctor, who told him to check
in again on Wednesday. He did, and
there wasno word on a cornea.
Thursday he got a call at work from
his doctor, who told him to get to Co- -
lumbia immediately a cornea was
waiting.
With the help of the La Grange, Mo.,
Lions Club, Hammond was able to get
to Columbia from where he was loading
grain one of the few things he could
do with his impaired sight in the
northeast part of the state. Three Lions
Club members drove Hammond the 120
miles to University Hospital.
That night, the doctor explained the
surgery. It would involve taking a
" sharp cookie cutter and cutting off the
diseased portion of the cornea," the
doctor said. Then, a slightly bigger coo-kie
cutter is used to cut a graft off the
donated cornea. The graft is then sewn
on the eye with about two dozen
stitches.
Hammond's chances for success were
slim since injuries such as his are the
worst kind to treat. The doctor told him
there was a very good chance the graft
would turn cloudy.
Although he was nervous about the
surgery, Hammond says," I didn't think
twice about the possible dangers. My
vision wasn't much anyway, so I didn't
have muchto lose."
The next day, Christinas Eve, Ham-mond
underwent a two- ho- ur operation.
He received the unscratched comea of
a 28- year-- old woman who had died Dec.
22.
He could see three times better out of
the eye that had been operated on
which now has 2030 vision just hours
after the surgery.
Hammond can return to a near nor-mal
life in about a month, when he'll try
to get his driver's license back and re-turn
to work. Because a corneal trans-plant
isn't as resistant to wear and tear
as the original equipment, Hammond
must be careful not to get what his doc-tor
calls a " fist blow," which could
knock the graft loose and blind nun
again.
Hammond is following the doctor's
orders " right down to the tee," he says.
" I don't want to lose what I have com--
,
Ted Wood
After undergoing a cornea operation last December, Robert Ham-mond
has regained vision in his left eye. If his left eye continues to
heal, another cornea transplant will be performed on his damaged
right eye within the year. Hammond lost his sight three years ago in
an industrial accident.
ingback."
Hammond must wait six months to a
year for the first transplant to heal and
to see if his eye rejects the transplant.
If all goes well, the transplant on the
other eye can be done.
Getting his eyesight back in one eye
at Christmas was a wonderful gift
Hammond says, " I hope I get the same I
thing next year " I
Hickman
seniors vie
for honors
By W. Kevin Armstrong
Mlssourlan stall writer
Hickman High School senior An-thony
Chang has wanted to be a doc-tor
for as long as he can remember.
Sometime this week he's hoping to
hear from Harvard University to see
if he has been accepted.
" I don't remember ever wanting
to be anything else," says 17- year-- old
Chang. " When I was little I used
to look through the medical encyclo-pedia
we had at home and ( was in-trigued)
bythose big, long words."
Melissa Parisi, another Hickman
senior, is pursuing similar goals. She
had childhood dreams of becoming
an astronomer, but has since
brought those hopes down to earth a
bit and wants to become a genetic
engineer.
" Dad ( a microbiology professor at
the University School of Medicine)
got me involved with the sciences
and I've always wanted to become a
doctor," says Miss Parisi.
She has been accepted at the Uni-versity.
Most high school seniors who do
well in school might receive a paren-tal
pat on the back or a spot on the
principal's honor roll, but Miss Pari- sl- ' s
and Chang's academic achieve-ments
are being recognized by Pres-ident
Reagan.
They are two of only 1,100 students
nationwide who can boast of that
honor. They're reluctant to do so,
however.
" This is kind of embarassing,"
says 17- year-- old Chang. " I don't
really like to talk about myself like
this.".
He would rather let his accom-plishments
do the talking.
Chang has maintained a 10.2 grade
point average ( Hickman uses an 11.0
scale) through his four years of high
school, plays on the Kewpies' junior
varsity tennis team, is a member of
the Key Club, Biology Club, National
I
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Anthony Chang and Melissa Parisi are nominees for presidential scholarships "'
Honor andFrench Honor societies.
Miss Parisi is a member of the bi-ology
and Trireme clubs, the Nation-al
Honor and French Honor socie-ties,
participates in debate
tournaments, plays on the volleyball
team and has maintained a perfect
11.0 grade point average through it
all.
Winners receive a medallion, a
trip to Washington, D. C., where they
meet with congressmen, Supreme
Court justices, scientists and others,
and a f1,000 scholarship.
Nominees are selected on the basis
of their scores on the ACT and SAT
college entrance exams and infor-mation
on the student profiles that
accompany the tests.
i
The commission initially selects 1,- 1- 00
nominees. Through a more in- de- pth
profile and essay competition,
the field is narrowed to 141 finalists.
Miss Parisi and Chang are com-peting
for two of those spots.
" There are so many forms to fill
out," Miss Pansi says. " I'll be glad
when I don't have to answer any
more questions."
Welcome
T troop'
Shuttle arrives safely
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE. Calif tUPI) - The
space shuttle Challenger swooped to a picture- perfe- ct
landing Saturday and capped a magnificent maiden mis-sion
that should help NASA get off four more flights this
year.
Astronauts Paul Weitz, Karol Bobko, Story Musgrae
and Donald Peterson flew America's second space
freighter from a 165- mile- hi- gh orbit to a smooth touch-down
on the runway used by the shuttle Columbia twice
last year.
The black and white winged ship eased to a smooth
touchdown at 1.54 pm EST
" Welcome home, F troop," said astronaut Roy Bridges
in mission control. " Prepare to dismount."
An estimated 72,000 " birdwatchers" braved sand
whipped by gusty winds and cheered the landing from
viewing areas in the Mojave Desert
Challenger's crewmen spent five days, 24 minutes aloft
and put 2 million miles on the new spaceplane Their $ 266
million mission proved the Challenger plagued by pre-punch
problems that delayed its blastoff for 2 1z months
is a spaceworthy addition to the nation's growing shut-tle
fleet
The big tracking and radio relay satellite the left be-hind
in orbit is expected to reach its planned 22,300- mile- hi- gh
stationary parking spot within a month, despite the
trouble with a rocket tug that placed it in the wrong orbit
And the cargo bay spacewalk conducted by Musgrave
and Peterson Thursday pavpd the way for " more ambi-tious
space repair and maintenance missions in the fu-ture.
Challenger is scheduled to be returned to the Kennedy
Space Center in Florida Thursday to begin preparations
for launch again in early June with a crew of five in-cluding
Sally Ride, the first American woman to go into
orbit.
The new shuttle originally was to have flown in late Jan-uary
But a series of frustrating engine leaks forced a
string of delays that lasted 2 months and jeopardized
the whole shuttle schedule for the rest of the y ear.
Officials said before Monday's flawless blastoff that a
largely trouble- fre- e flight would be needed to give them a
chance to get the program back on schedule Any prob-lems
requiring significant modifications would have set
back the revised schedule
" From what we've seen so far, the flight anomalies
have been very minimal," said Richard Smith, director of
Kennedy Space Center
Campus leaders skeptical
that plans are the cure- a- ll
By Major Garrett
Missourian staff writer
Though many University system
officials believe long- rang- e planning
will propel the system toward
statewide academic supremacy and
national prominence, on the Colum-bia
campus some are skeptical.
For Provost Ronald Bunn and
some deans here, hope for future ac-complishments
rests in channeling
more state and pnvate contributions
toward the University.
" I don't think their approach will
solve all our problems," Bunn says
of the long- rang- e planning process
begun nine months ago by the Uni-versity
Board of Curators. Out of
that effort is to come a system of
academic priorities.
Bunn says the curators' planning
process, and its results, shouldn't be
considered a cure- al- l. At best, that
process only will offer a rough
framework for each campus to fol-low,
he says
Though such a framework will be
vital to the system's future, so is at-tracting
money for new faculty and
resources, he says.
Some campus deans agree.
" State funding is the key," says
Bea Litherland, dean of the College
of Home Economics. " Without it we
all suffer." That college narrowly
escaped the budget ax during last
spring's reallocations
Most deans agree that to fortify
their programs, increased funding
for faculty salaries, equipment and
research is a must All those areas,
they say, have seen little growth
since 1980.
They point to an almost $ 25 million
reduction in state appropriations,
which was caused by state revenue
shortfalls, as the biggest obstacle to
improving programs The financial
burden the cuts caused nominal
and infrequent faculty salary in-creases,
use of pnvate contributions
to pay for routine expenses and leav-ing
staff vacancies unfilled all
frustrated recruitment, research
and faculty retention attempts, they
say
So even with an effective planning
process, which they say will be long
in implementation, more money is
the common denominator to solving
the University's complex education
equation
Perhaps ironically, Shaila Aery,
commissioner of the state Coordinat-ing
Board for Higher Education,
said last month that a planning proc-ess
and increased state funding are
irrevocably bed. In a speech debv- -
See DEANS, Page 8A
2 p. m. ' The Winslow Boy," Ste-phens
College Assembly Hall,
$ 3 50 public. $ 2 50 students
7 30 pm Varsity band concert
Hickman High School Auditorium '
8 p. m University Singers, Fine
Arts Recital Hall
tt
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