Andy Wasylciw can see clearly now – due in part to the event he helps organize.
Wasylciw, a long-time participant and organizer of the Flin Flon portion of the Lions Club’s Journey for Sight, started noticing his eyesight was getting hazy.
“I didn’t realize my eyes were going bad until I was looking at signs and they were all blurry. I thought, ‘Oh well, it must be time for glasses,’” he said.
Things turned out to be more severe than Wasylciw thought. He had cataracts in both eyes.
“I went in for a check-up and it was more than that – glasses weren’t going to help those eyes.”
Cataracts usually affect the elderly or people who have suffered eye injuries or surgery complications. Wasylciw didn’t tick any of those boxes.
“At that time, my age, I was pretty young to have that. They said it wasn’t really abnormal, but it does happen.
In order to get the cataracts removed, Wasylciw looked to the program he helped run. Wasylciw headed to Swan River to have work on his eyes completed, using a clinic funded in part by donations from the Journey for Sight, the Swan River Lions Club and the Lions Eye Bank.
“They donated a bunch of money and got a cataract facility done, they can do surgery there now. I got my eyes done there. Thanks to people who donate money, I didn’t have to travel all the way to Winnipeg,” he said.
Now, Wasylciw can see things in great, fearless detail.
“I got implants put in and I’m back to 20/20,” said Wasylciw. “I use glasses for reading but for distance, my eyesight is perfect.”
This year’s edition of the Journey for Sight kicked off at the Victoria Inn at 10 am on Jan. 17, with about 30 riders hitting the trails toward Brandon. Snowmobilers from across the province took part in the ride, after pledging for the Lions Eye Bank. The Eye Bank provides assistance for people like Wasylciw in Manitoba and northern Ontario, including medical treatment, equipment and transplant help.
“They usually raise between $80,000 and $90,000 each year. It all goes to the Lions Eye Bank and goes to surgeries and updating equipment and all that good stuff,” said Wasylciw.
After leaving Flin Flon, the convoy headed south on trails toward The Pas.
After an overnight stay, the group moved on to Swan River, branching off afterward with half the group going toward Roblin and the rest going toward Dauphin and Birtle.
The two clusters met in Brandon on Saturday afternoon for a final wrap up.
“Everybody kind of goes their own way after that,” said Wasylciw. “It’s about 650 kilometres by snow machine in total.”
Weather forecasts called for cold weather with some possible snow along the way.
“Since we got snow the last couple of days, the boys will be happy,” said Wasylciw. “They want powder. The boys want to play. It’s all really expensive snow machines, and in places like Dauphin, they had almost no snow at all.”
