The University of Louisville Alumni Magazine: for alumni, faculty, staff, students and anyone that is a UofL Cardinal fan.
Issue link: https://louisville.epubxp.com/i/643329
3 4 | L O U I S V I L L E . E D U 3 4 3 4 | L O U I S V I L L E . E D U Luke Moons of Albany, Kentucky, was f rst diagnosed with congenital cataracts when he was just four years old. This ultimately led to glaucoma during his teenage years. He underwent several procedures to implant lenses and stabilize his vision at 20/50, but he still maintains low vision to this day. When Luke and his wife, Annie, f rst found out she was pregnant with their son, James, they became concerned that Luke's condition could be hereditary. The odds of this happening were calculated at about 1 in 4. Unfortunately, at around three months of age, James' parents noticed that he was only focusing on light instead of specif c objects or faces. He was beginning to show signs of the same cataracts his father had experienced. James underwent a procedure to remove the cataracts, but glaucoma soon followed. A year and half later, Kate was born. Instead of waiting for symptoms to develop, the Moons fam- ily visited their ophthalmologist only a few weeks after her birth. She was already showing signs of the same cataracts. By the ages of 3 and 18 months, the two chil- dren had been in an operating room a combined 27 times. Their cataracts had been removed, tube shunts were placed in each eye and various other procedures attempted to save their vision. This series of events was incredibly diff cult for Luke and Annie to endure. Their ophthalmologist referred the Moons family to Rahul Bhola, MD, at the University of Louisville. Bhola's research into a revolutionary canalo- plasty procedure showed promise as an effective treatment for glaucoma in young children. He had become one of only seven in the country—and the only ophthalmologist in Kentucky—who was performing canaloplasty, which uses a micro catheter to open the Schlemm's canal and drain the eye without the use of shunts. With the children having had so many surgical procedures before, Bhola's efforts were much more challenging. But he was able to per- form the canaloplasty effectively to provide both James and Kate with excellent long-term results. The procedure immediately changed the children's lives. While James had always been interested in books, the procedure brought those books to life. He now loves to read and can see all the pictures in detail. And thanks to Bhola's dedication to cutting- edge techniques, UofL is being recognized as a state-of-art center for pediatric canaloplasty. "I want them to live life without having to worry about their vision being a problem, and Dr. Bhola has defi nitely given them that opportunity." —Luke Moons, James' and Kate's father ABOVE: Dr. Bhola fi ts Kate Moons for a new pair of glasses.