Doug Kahler was an electrician for 38 years at University of Iowa Health Care. His wife, LaVonne, worked in pediatrics at UI Health Care, and the two met at the Slugger’s Sports Bar on the Coralville Strip during a party in June 1996.
Doug was known for his pranks and “Dougerisms,” such as, “Talk about me all you want, because then you’re leaving someone else alone.”
After his retirement from UI Health Care, Doug worked at the deli counter at Hy-Vee in Coralville.
“One of the guys kept bugging him to work over there,” LaVonne says. “He was bored sitting around at home.”
Aside from arthritis in his hand and shoulder, Doug also had heart bypass surgery in 2020 and was diagnosed with interstitial lung disease in 2022. A year later, he was diagnosed with lung cancer.
“He did chemo for six months, then stopped because the chemo wasn’t working,” LaVonne says. “He said he felt better, then the next week he got sick.”
Doug spent 10 days in the hospital at UI Health Care-University Campus before passing away in May of 2024.
Although Doug had cancer, he was still eligible to be an eye donor, because unlike with tissue and organ donation, a cancer diagnosis does not often preclude the gift of sight.
LaVonne says Doug’s daughter, who had donated her husband’s eyes to Iowa Lions Eye Bank when he passed away in 2020, brought up donation. LaVonne agreed to donate Doug’s eyes to Iowa Lions Eye Bank for use in research.
“I think Doug was the type who would’ve said, ‘well, I’m not using it anymore,’ and he would want to help people,” LaVonne says.
Eye donors help researchers pave the way for future breakthroughs in preventing, treating, and curing blinding eye conditions.
Iowa Lions Eye Bank (ILEB) has a robust, in-house research program, led by ILEB medical director, Dr. Mark Greiner, which works toward perfecting the corneal transplantation process and preventing the need for future transplants. This sets ILEB apart from most other eye banks that do not have in-house research programs.
ILEB also works with the Institute for Vision Research (IVR) at the University of Iowa to provide whole eyes for research. IVR has one of the largest repositories of eye tissue in the United States, thanks in part to its partnership with ILEB. IVR researchers study diseases that affect the parts of the eye behind the cornea, including the retina, macula and choroid.