Apparently another person named Kirk Morgan is scheduled
for surgery to receive a Dobelle brain implant next month.
See his public letter below.

Best wishes,

Peter Meijer


Artificial Vision through Sound - The vOICe
http://www.seeingwithsound.com/winvoice.htm



March 2002.

Dear friends and colleagues of Vic Dunning and Hopewell Church,

On 01/21/01 I was shot in the face resulting in blindness.  I also
incurred a perforated eardrum requiring a skin graft, had reconstructive
surgery on my eyelids, and in February 2002 had a craniotomy to repair
spinal fluid leak.  When I found out I was blinded, my family and I
looked into alternative ways of vision.  We found an internet site,
www.artificialvision.com.

Artificial vision was developed by Dr. William Dobelle of the Dobelle
Institute in New York, and is a system that allows you to see using
a computer.  It works through a means of connecting two electrode
arrays, which are implanted under the skull and on top of the visual
cortex.  These electrodes connect to a computer, video camera, and
a laser-pointer (position monitor), which is mounted to a pair of
eyeglasses.  This will allow me to see in black and white.  (If you
wish to learn more about artificial vision, log on to the above
website.  Please note that Dr. Dobelle has subsequently developed
a newer system which is extremely more powerful than the one on the
website, and I am one of 16 people in the entire world selected for
this surgery.  However, due to FDA regulations, this surgery has not
yet been approved to be performed in the United States, nor is it
covered by any insurance.)

I am scheduled to have this surgery at the Dobelle Institute in
Lisbon, Portugal on 07/18/02, and all subsequent upgrades to the
computer system will be done in the United States.  I hope to be
able to return to work after the surgery and after my training at
the School for the Blind or I might go back to college and get my
Masters Degree in Art Therapy.

In conclusion, I am asking for your financial support to help pay
for this surgery.  The surgery costs $85,000.  If you have any
questions, you can contact Lisa Quinn or me at 215-389-2248 or my
parents (Ron and Nancy Morgan) at 610-269-5533.

Sincerely,

Kirk Morgan

Source URL (Microsoft Word file):
http://www.hopewellchurch.com/KirkMorganArtificialVisionFund.doc