At 1.30 a.m. on September 4, 2026, M. B. Gurudeva received a call. N. Shivashankar, a resident of Doddaballapura, about 40 kms from Bengaluru, had passed away, and his family had consented to donate his eyes.
Within hours, Gurudeva had coordinated with the Sankara Eye Foundation. Its medical team arrived at 4 a.m. to retrieve the donated eye tissue. By dawn, another donation had been completed—and the eye donation program supported by Lions Clubs of Doddaballapur and Doddaballapura RL Jalappa Institutions, District 317F, had reached 2,960 donated eyes.
Such calls have shaped Gurudeva’s life for 14 years. In 2012, the founder of Abhishek Netradhama began working with the club to encourage families to consider eye donation. The program, supported this year by District Governor Raju Chandrashekar, is close to the 3,000-eye donation milestone.
Yet each successful donation also draws attention to the many opportunities that are lost. Despite the large number of deaths recorded across Bengaluru and Bengaluru Rural every year, only a small proportion leads to eye donation. The obstacles are many: lack of awareness, misconceptions, delayed communication with an eye bank, and the family’s reluctance to give consent.
An eye-donation pledge does not automatically ensure that the donation will take place.
You have pledged your eyes. Does your family know?
Gurudeva has faced this situation repeatedly: the deceased had pledged their eyes, yet uncertainty among family members prevented consent from being given. Donors must, therefore, share their decision clearly with those who will eventually be asked to act on them.
Medical advances now allow different parts of suitable donated eye tissue to be used for more than one recipient. One pair of eyes can actually help four people. This makes every timely consent particularly valuable.
Doddaballapur Lions Club, which has served the Bengaluru Rural community for 55 years, continues to promote eye donation and assist families when a death is reported. Its next milestone is close. And that milestone could mean that one day, a person living with corneal blindness may see their family, their home, a sunrise, a child’s face—or simply the world around them.