- I'm now joined by my colleague, Jacqui Tricarico, our special correspondent, Jacqui, you we're out at the the 5K, the New Jersey Sharing Network, the organization committed to organ and tissue donation, their annual 5K.

You did a whole range of great interviews.

This is with Nancy Nusbaum, who is a double-eye coronary recipient.

Talk about Nancy and that interview.

- Yeah, we're often talking to the folks at the New Jersey Sharing Network 5K.

A lot of them received organs, but when we're talking about tissue donation, that impacts so many lives as well.

And Nancy was going blind, had a really horrible disease in both of her eyes and was going blind.

And she received one eye, new tissue, and then another eye, new tissue at two different times within the span of a year and a half to regain her eyesight.

And she gives us an in-depth look into that whole process for her and really great story that you're gonna hear next.

Let's check it out.

- Hi, I'm Jacqui Tricarico, on location at the New Jersey Sharing Networks 5K event here in New Providence, New Jersey, and I am so pleased to be joined by Nancy Nusbaum, who is a double-eye cornea recipient.

Both of your eyes, new corneas in both of them, that happened two different times.

We're gonna get into that a little bit.

But I wanna first go back to when you're 35-years-old, and you are diagnosed with congenital corneal disease.

Describe what that was, and what was happening in your life at that time that you knew something wasn't right?

- I actually didn't know something was right, it was congenital so I had it my whole life as a child.

And you don't know what you're not seeing if you don't know it's there.

(laughs) So, I started at The Seeing Eye, and was surrounded by the awareness of what vision was.

And I started working part-time, and I worked for an ophthalmologist.

- [Jacqui] Oh.

- And when he did my eye exam, he said, "You know you have corneal disease, don't you?"

And I said, "No, I don't."

(chuckles) Both eyes were involved, and I asked him what that meant.

And there was no treatment for it, you know, so we monitored it for years.

But he said, "Eventually you're going to need a transplant," which just seemed shocking to me, I didn't know about this.

- So you fast forward to 2016, 2017, that timeframe, and you know that it's time, that you need this transplant.

- Yes.

You know, the cells in the cornea were dying off.

- Were you losing sight at that time then?

- Yes, I was.

At times, if we were very glaring, if today were very bright, for instance, a lot of things would look like a white screen to me.

So, I was getting to the point where I wouldn't be able to drive, I had to be careful when I did go out, if it were very glaring.

If it were raining, it would be looking through a Coke bottle with rain on it.

- And so this would keep happening, and it would get worse and worse if you didn't receive this transplant?

- Yes, I mean, I would lose my vision.

- Completely.

So you then are put on the transplant list.

So, you get those, so, one eye was done in 2016, and the other in 2017.

So two different donors that were giving you the gift to be able to see again.

Talk about that process, at both times, of going through this transplant, and knowing that you were able to receive this gift from another person.

- It was really, truly a sacred journey for me.

You know, I've had other surgeries before, but this one was different.

You know, these two individuals left the world.

And in their darkest time, in their darkest moment, and a time of sorrow for the family, they were thinking about giving a gift, giving a sacred gift, a kind gift, doing something for someone else.

So, there's something about that that is very sacred, and I feel as if I'm looking through their lenses when I see the world, I feel these two individuals created this miracle for me, and for probably many other people who were recipients of other organs or tissue donation.

And as I look at the world, you know, with these two individuals, I'm like, maybe they never saw New York City, maybe they never saw this or that.

And when I look at the moon, when I look at the color blue, which I couldn't see with the particular corneal disease I had, I didn't understand blue.

(laughs) - Yeah.

- I didn't get it.

But to see a beautiful blue color, is just, it's breathtaking, you know?

- Were you able to learn about your donors, or any of that information given to you at this point?

- It was all anonymous.

I did write to the donors' families, because I wanted them to know about my awareness of, you know, I think every sense speaks its own language, and vision certainly has a huge vocabulary, and I wanted them to know that I really, really understood what this gift was, and I honored it.

And, you know, it was a reverent, sacred gift.

And, you know, I just feel like so many people here who've received gifts, who have given sacred gifts like that, it reminds like all of us of the awe and- - The humanity, just the humanity, and people that we're thinking about- - That we're all connected, yes.

- And we're all connected.

And you're honoring your donors today by being here at the 5K.

Talk about how important that is for you to be here, to celebrate them, and be with all the other people here that have gone through similar, but different journeys.

- Yes, it's just an honor and a privilege.

And, you know, I think about my donors every day.

I mean, every single day, when I wake up and look in the mirror, brush my teeth, and, you know, say hello to them.

And I'm sure everybody here has that same feeling, so to have us all come together, and feel that energetically, and feel that reverence for life, and for all life, it's just very powerful.

- The New Jersey Sharing Network, how important of a role has that played in your journey?

- Oh, wonderful.

I was always hoping that there was an organization like New Jersey Sharing Network, and I sort of came across them by chance at an outreach we were doing for The Seeing Eye, another nonprofit.

- Are you still working with The Seeing Eye too?

- I retired.

I retired.

- Okay.

(chuckles) - But we're still doing it, we have- - 35 years here now?

- 35 years, yes.

- Wow, that's amazing.

- Went by in a flash.

(chuckles) - Yeah.

(chuckles) That's great.

- But we still do outreach programs for them, and came across, it was an outreach program for the Sharing Network group, and it was just like a match made in heaven, it was just wonderful.

- Well, working at The Seeing Eye, before you learned of this disease that you had, and then things coming full-circle for you, it seems like you're really doing so much to honor your donors, and thank you for taking the time today to talk to us about them.

- Oh, thank you, Jacqui, it was an honor.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- [Narrator] Think Tank with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Celebrating 30 years in public broadcasting.

Funding has been provided by The Turrell Fund, a foundation serving children.

Rowan University.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

Wells Fargo.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

Johnson & Johnson.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

Newark Board of Education.

And by New Jersey Children’s Foundation.

Promotional support provided by BestofNJ.com.

And by The New Jersey Business & Industry Association.

- I'm Tim Sullivan, CEO of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

Since joining the NJEDA, I've been struck by the incredible assets and resources that New Jersey has to offer.

The NJEDA is working every day to grow New Jersey's economy in a way that maximizes the values of those assets to benefit every single New Jersey resident.

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Visit njeda.com to learn more about how NJEDA is building a stronger and fairer New Jersey economy.