Three years ago Dareck Heinecke’s outlook on life suddenly changed.
More specifically, his ability to see, something most people take for granted, was unexpectedly put in jeopardy through a rare fungal eye infection.
Heinecke, 26, of Annandale, whose parents Scott and Kim own Annandale Auto Care, noticed a white dot on his left cornea, which eye doctors said was an ulcer. He began treatment, but after a few appointments the ulcer ruptured and Heinecke was rushed to the University of Minnesota for an immediate cornea transplant.
When the rupture first occurred, Heinecke didn’t realize the extent of the problem, and a delay at his St. Cloud eye appointment left him wondering.
"I was waiting and waiting and it was like, ‘What’s going on here?’ Well, lo and behold, the doctor there was fighting to get me down to the U of M for a procedure that night," said Heinecke. "The U was skeptical. (My St. Cloud doctor) said ‘No, this has to be taken care of tonight or this patient will lose his eye.’"
The University agreed to accept him, and Heinecke was checked in for surgery around midnight on Sept. 25, 2013.
While the initial surgery appeared to go well, what has followed in the ensuing three years has been beyond what anyone could have expected: about nine eye surgeries, three eye injections, constant discomfort and a steadily declining ability to see from one eye.
Heinecke’s family has started a Go Fund Me page to help cover medical expenses, and wished to share his story to promote awareness of eye safety.
"It’s been a journey. It’s his journey, but a lot of people can learn from it," said Kim.
Cause a mystery
What caused the initial infection is unclear. Heinecke had been working in landscaping and doing work on four-wheelers, and the type of fungus that was found in his eye is typically associated with pesticides. He had also just begun to wear contacts, which may have exacerbated the problem.
"I think something got in there and scratched it, and the contacts just helped hold it in. I didn’t even realize it," Heinecke said. "That’s the best assumption I can come up with after thinking about it for three years."
Shortly after his first cornea transplant his eye pressure began spiking to dangerous levels. A second procedure was done to install a glaucoma pump to help relieve the pressure.
Again, everything appeared to go well with the surgery, but after a few weeks doctors realized that the patch of tissue that had been used to cover the pump was not healing properly. A third and fourth procedure followed before the pump was finally deactivated to let Heinecke’s eye rest.
"The eye was just blood red and inflamed," he said.
During that time frame, from September through December of 2013, Heinecke was restricted from lifting more than two pounds of weight at a time.
"That’s a half gallon of milk. For me, being an outdoorsy person on my dirt bikes, snowmobiles and four-wheelers, I couldn’t even turn my wrench," said Heinecke. "That was the hardest thing to deal with. The eye thing, the vision was still there enough. The surgeries, I was OK. The biggest challenge for me was not being able to do anything."
Into March of the following year Heinecke had to sleep upright and tape a plastic shield to his face every night to protect his eye. The weight restriction was raised to 10 pounds after Christmas, but that still severely limited what Heinecke could do as far as work, and landscaping was out of the question. In addition, light sensitivity made it difficult to be outdoors and brought on frequent migraines.
Losing sight
Additional procedures continued to follow, including the installation of a second glaucoma pump, a second cornea transplant and finally the removal of his eye lens to relieve pressure that had again become a problem.
The most difficult procedure to deal with from a mental standpoint consisted of three injections with a needle directly into his eye to reduce blood vessel problems.
"I couldn’t feel anything, but a lot of people struggle to put contacts in," Heinecke said. "This was a needle in the eye."
His vision continued to decline. At present, he can see some motion and light and dark through his left eye, but actual vision is spotty.
"It’s like looking through muddy water on a window. You can see through it, but not any detail. It’s shadowy. It’s been steady like that for a while now," Heinecke said.
In spite of the situation, Heinecke has been able to keep a sense of humor and recognize the positives.
"The fortunate thing with this whole deal, if you can say it’s fortunate, is that the vision loss progressed so slowly that I was able to acclimate," he said, adding that anyone who loses their vision suddenly would have a much more difficult trial to undergo.
He credited family, friends and his former girlfriend with helping him to keep from dwelling on his situation and for offering steady support.
"It’s frustrating," said his sister Sara. "There’s nothing we can do about it but pray and support."
Outlook
No further procedures are planned for Heinecke at present, but it remains unclear whether he will ever regain full vision in his eye. Doctors do not know the full extent of the damage, and if it has moved further back to parts like the retina.
Heinecke has found some semblance of normalcy, however, working full time at Thomas Tool and Supply in St. Cloud and returning to four-wheeling on a limited basis. Having spent money for medical expenses he might otherwise have saved for a down payment on a house, he is living with his parents for the time being.
He hopes to use his experience to promote eye safety and perhaps even start a "Fight for Sight" campaign that could raise money for eye patients. In between work and eye appointments, Heinecke has explored avenues like working with the Lions Eye Bank – "what I call my parts store," he said – and thought about how he could use his experience to educate others.
"I could do talks about eye safety at certain places," he said. "I have an unusual situation, but it wouldn’t take that to have similar problems. Running a weed whip, mowing the lawn, a similar kind of thing could happen. I’m trying to raise awareness."
Sara agreed that sharing his story could have value for others, even in less drastic situations.
"His story is so rare, but even if it’s less than what he’s going through, like somebody going through an infection, maybe that could be prevented if they take more precautions," she said.
■ For more on Heinecke’s story and to donate funds to help cover medical expenses, see his Go Fund Me page at https://www.gofundme.com/2cd8nc4.