Inspirational blind man gives two people the gift of sight when he dies

IN LIFE Allan Lawson was deaf and blind, but after his tragic death, he would build an incredible legacy by helping two strangers see.

IN LIFE Allan Lawson was deaf and blind, but after his tragic death, he would build an incredible legacy by helping two strangers see.

A rare medical condition had eroded the 59 year old’s sight over many years, leaving him accustomed to a world of blackness and silence.

But his life was as colourful and rich as any other.

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Allan Lawson was deaf and blind, but in death he became an organ donor, helping restore sight in two people. Picture: Supplied.

Allan was a fitness junkie, who even carried the Olympic Torch through Melbourne, a foodie, and most of all a beloved baby brother and partner.

That fateful day Allan was doing what he loved, in fact, it was the same thing he did every day.

His morning walk to the beach had become so routine that Gina Pontelandolfo, his partner of 25 years, relied on him as an alarm clock.

But that day she was woken from her slumber by Victoria Police.

Gina, who is also deaf and blind, used her phone to ask them her first and only thought:

“Where is Allan?”

By that stage Allan was lying in the Alfred Hospital.

A car had struck him as he navigated a pedestrian crossing near his house with his cane.

“It was a complete shock, I just cried and cried,” Gina said.

That night his medical team called a meeting with the family.

“His injuries were horrendous,” his sister Wendy Pruin recalled.

“He was an absolute mess: broken from head to toe and the worst of it was a catastrophic brain bleed.”

Allan's partner Edna Pontelandolfo. Picture: Josie Hayden

Allan Lawson was 59 when he was hit by a car and killed. Picture: SUPPLIED

Nine days later the inevitable occurred: his life support was withdrawn.

Allan was born deaf, but only discovered he would eventually go blind after his sister Heather Lawson, 58 was diagnosed with Usher Syndrome, prompting him and his sister Jeanette Loftus, 64, to be tested.

They too had the genetic condition, but sisters Margaret Steele, 66 and Wendy had not.

For a robust and active man who loved helping out on the family farm in Leongatha, it was difficult for him to accept that the colour of the sky would soon be nothing but a memory.

Like most Australian families, the first the Lawson siblings had ever discussed organ donation was that day in the Prahran hospital.

Donation specialist nurse coordinator Nina Seng from DonateLife still remembers Gina’s confused expression when she discovered that Allan could become an eye donor.

Tactile interpreters, who translate for people who are deaf and blind by allowing them to ‘feel’ the sign language, had been brought in to communicate with her and Allan’s sisters.

Alan with his partner Edna Pontelandolfo. Picture: Supplied.

It took Gina a long time to understand how something that, in the end, had been so useless to him, could possibly help someone else.

“It blew us all away that someone who is blind can restore sight in someone,” his sister Wendy said.

In Allan’s case, he donated both corneas, the clear lenses at the front of the eye, to two different recipients for use in corneal transplants.

Dr Graeme Pollock, director of the Lions Eye Donation Service, said people with conditions like Usher Syndrome or Macular Degeneration can still donate their corneas because their conditions only affect the retina, the thin tissue at the back of the eye.

Allan also donated his sclera, the whites of the eyes, which is used for reconstructive eye surgery for trauma or cancer patients and in people with glaucoma.

If there can be any joy arising from the sorrow that still shrouds Gina and his sisters, it’s that Allan has given others a gift that he could never receive.

One that he held onto, so preciously and tenuously, for as long as he possibly could.

“We are so proud that a part of Allan still lives on,” Margaret said.

Allan’s sisters Heather Lawson, Margarette Steele, Wendy Pruin and Jeanette Loftus. Picture: Josie Hayden

To become an organ donor: https://donatelife.gov.au/