Heder Mission Moments: Elder Teal's Eye Story

This morning on our way to Church in Halandri, a car pulled up next to us in traffic and honked. We looked over to see a man and woman smiling back at us and waving. We didn’t recognize them, but they were dressed for church and were smiling. Traffic forced us apart, but at the next light, as they pulled up next to us, the man rolled down his window and said “hello” in an accent that I didn’t recognize. He held up a pamphlet with “JW.org” on it. LeeAnn had rolled down her window (since she was closest to their open car window). She smiled and said, “Hi, we’re Mormons!” The man said, “oh!” and he waived again and drove off. From the back seat my daughter Marie said, “wait, what just happened?” It was hilarious.

Something of a small miracle has emerged in recent days with one of my assistants. He started noticing problems with his vision not long after he started his mission. Over time he noticed it more and more as he struggled to focus in reading, but he said nothing to anyone and though his impediment was obvious, noone said anything to him. Shortly after our arrival in the mission field I went out street contacting with his elder and his companion and while I was completely impressed with him as a person and a missionary, I noticed his sight problem. I asked him about it and thought that we needed to check it out.

Not too long thereafter, I transferred him into the office to serve as one of my assistants and I asked Sister Heder to obtain an appointment for his eyes. She did so and he was diagnosed with a degenerative condition where his cornea is thinning at an accelerated rate. This particular syndrome is something that is quite rare in most of the world but is very common among Greeks. Therefore, rather than just doing a normal test and determining that he needed corrective lenses, this Greek doctor seemed to assume he might have this problem and immediately tested for this particular syndrome.

However, his experience with the disease was that generally, it does not progress quickly, and he suggested that our Elder could afford to wait until he finished his mission. Then, upon his return to England, he could obtain the surgery to stop the progress of the problem. In the short term he suggested that he wear hard corrective glasses.

When the Elder told Sister Heder about the results of the appointment, she was unsettled. She listened to the diagnosis and suddenly recalled something that she had written down on a piece of paper when she and I had received our eye exams prior to leaving Utah. The doctor who had examined us had received special training from some expert in Greece, and for some reason, he shared with LeeAnn the contact information for the world’s leading expert on a particular problem and treatment for that problem.

So she went to her purse, and 7 months after that eye exam in Provo, Utah, with all the packing and moving to Greece and everything that has gone into and out of her purse in the intervening months, she immediately found that slip of paper. On it was the doctor’s name, phone number and the particular specialty she had been told of by our eye doctor in Provo. The condition that our Elder has is precisely the condition that this Greek specialist addresses.

Sister Heder felt strongly that our Elder needed to get a second appointment, this time with this specialist, to see what he advises. The appointment was scheduled and within days, our lEder was able to get the second exam. This doctor verified that our Elder has the precise condition, but in examining him he determined that the condition was worsening quickly, and the delay in treatment suggested by the first doctor could result in irreparable loss of vision. He recommended not only surgery soon, but a very new procedure that he has pioneered that would stop the progression of the disease and also correct, permanently, the vision loss he has experienced.

After this second exam, with this new information in hand, it was then necessary to get clearance from the insurance company that covers our missionaries, and then to see if we could obtain approval from our area medical advisor. Sister Heder submitted all the reports and asked for approval and obtained it. The area medical advisor was supportive, but hadn't heard of the new procedure. He learned from a US doctor that it isn't even approved by the FDA in the States. That doctor doubted the procedure. Sister Heder listened to the area medical advisor’s conversation and then she decided to call the doctor in Provo who had given her the name of this specialist in Greece.

She called him late in the night here in Greece, and happened to catch him between surgeries and office appointments.

In the midst of his busy schedule he took her call. She explained what she knew and what had been recommended by the doctor here in Athens, and what had been suggested by the doctor in the States. This doctor, also a specialist in cornea problems, recommended that the two surgeries be completed just as the Athens specialist had recommended, as soon as possible. He pointed out that most people, in most countries do not even have access to such procedures.

He stated without question that if it was his own son or a missionary in his mission, he would do all he could to arrange the dual surgeries that the Athens specialist had the expertise to do. The Elder’s parents were consulted. They prayed and did some research on the internet, and after their own prayers, they concluded that all things had been led to this point for the benefit of their son. As they summarized it in an email and later a skype call with us: their son had been called to this mission at a time when I would be his mission president. It’s a mission where a particular form of degeneration is common enough to be tested routinely. I was prompted to bring him to Athens as an assistant, where his condition caused me to be concerned about his sight. With me, he felt safe in asking if he could have it examined. His condition would not likely have been properly diagnosed had he stayed in Cyprus. His coming to Athens brought about the appointment and initial diagnosis, and then Sister Heder’s sensitivity to the Spirit’s promptings led her to a little slip of paper that was placed in her purse 8 months before, in Provo, Utah. The information on that piece of paper, supplied by a doctor in Utah when Sister Heder asked for it (without having any medical need for the information) led to the second exam by the one doctor in the world who pioneers and practices the exact procedure needed to correct this problem and save this Elder’s vision.

We fasted in part today for the elder and for those who will participate in his surgery. We are grateful and mindful of the miracle we are witnessing. God knows where His children are and what is important for their growth and progress. This young man is a future leader in the Church. He possesses special strength, wisdom and insight. To lose his physical sight and thus limit his education and career could easily limit his potential opportunities. That, in turn, could also limit his influence and opportunities to change the world and lead as I’m certain will be part of his future. Truly it must be acknowledged that ours is a God and Father of miracles.

Bill O. Heder
Greece, Athens Mission

Hello Family,

OK you are all going to be a bit jealous that we have been enjoying temperatures in the 60's for this first week in Dec. and it is not bad. Today was so beautiful I took a little walk to take in the sunshine and do some scripture study (I just finished listening to the New Testament and I am working on the Old Testament with the girls for Seminary this year, if I can just get through Numbers and Deut. HA) Anyway back to T-shirt weather, Nov. was warmer than normal, enjoyed many 70 degree days. Don't worry, it won't be paradise forever. They say the rain is coming.

We have finally cleaned and put away our Thanksgiving feast :) So fun to see the missionaries try things they had never had before like dressing and sweet potatoes. They must have liked it, not many leftovers. Now we are planning Christmas events. I am putting together a musical fireside for the 3 branches in Athens and we are trying to involve as many members and missionaries as we can. We have musical numbers planned from our 5 great seminary students, the YSA group is making a video, missionaries and members are working on some of the songs and our narrators will speak in both English and Greek.

The farmers markets are so much fun right now, they even have strawberries and grapes still in season. Love, love all the fruits and veggies you can get here. It counteracts all the sugar highs we get from too many good pastries. UGH! Oranges are everywhere right now, the trees are full of them. There are so many orange trees on the streets and in peoples yards and they are all bright orange and ready to harvest, very pretty. One gardner was harvesting the clementines off his tree and of course I said Hello, and he offered me some, and they were so crazy amazing. So sweet and better than any I have eaten because it was fresh right off the tree. But then my neighbors' are very sour and apparently they use the rind and make it into a dried candy. Next to the church in Halandri there are mandarin and lemon trees at a care center. I went over to ask permission to pick some and ended up scheduling a Christmas program for our missionaries to perform there at the "Relax Palace Care Center!"

I challenged our missionary leaders in MLC to not just Be but to BECOME something more. We should remember that change and growth take time, but also conscious effort. Even Jesus had to become our Saviour. "Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man" (Luke 2:52) Our gift to him is to diligently work to become the person he needs us to BECOME.

Just some thoughts, love ya,

Sister LeeAnn Heder

P.S. Really tough to see Coach Mendenhall leave BYU, Austin is hanging in there but it is hard to imagine football without him as his coach. Huge admiration for Bronco and his family and we wish them well.