I loved this idea that was shared by Lisa – it combines some of my favorite things: books, libraries, and kids telling their own story. Lisa’s daughter, Megan, is in first grade and recently asked to wear her patch to school.  Megan brought “Jacob’s Eye Patch” to school as well as her own story of her vision challenges read them to her class.  Her teacher reported that the class was entranced.

Megan and her mom then donated that copy of the book to the school library.  Inside the book, they included Megan’s story:

Hello! My name is Megan.  I want to share the story of my vision challenge with you so it can help other kids understand why some people, big and little, might wear glasses or eye patches or have a lazy eye.

I have patched since I was 3 months old and no one has ever made fun of me for it and I hope no one ever does. I also hope no other kids get made fun of either. I have had a lot of kids ask me what my patch is for and then I tell them and they usually say “oh cool!” That makes me feel happy.

I was born with a cataract that covered the lens in my eye so it couldn’t see very well. Do you see the reddish-yellow glow in my eye? That was my cataract. Dr. Karr removed it when I was just 11 weeks old. After my surgery they put a protective shield on my eye while it healed. My mom got to pick out a quilt for me and they also gave me a fuzzy elk. I love my special quilt. After my eye healed I got a contact lens so I could see clearly. My parent had to take it out to clean it and as I got older I HATED it. I got glasses when I was about 1 1/2 year old. They were so cute!

I started patching for 5 hours every day. I had patches with cool designs. The patch helped my eye get stronger so I could see better. My eye also was lazy because of the cataract and it pointed out to the left. When my patch was on it looked straight! When I was 5 I had surgery again to help straighted my eye. Then I had another surgery to put a special kind of lens inside my eye so I didn’t have to wear the contact anymore. I still patch for 5 hours a day. I have patched over 10,000 hours!! Can you imagine that? Want to know a secret? I still don’t like patching and still struggle to do it when I am supposed to but I am glad my Mom has tried to get me to patch every day because it has helped my eye learn to see much better. I still go see Dr. Karr every few months to check my eye and someday I may need another surgery because it’s getting a little lazy again. Maybe because sometimes I take my patch off or maybe it just wants to be lazy. I do love my glasses though!

Thank you for hearing my story and I hope you enjoy this book.

Gifted to Ladd Acres Elementary by Megan Sanchez June 2017.

[visual description: a picture of the book “Jacob’s Eye Patch”; Megan’s story; and photos of Megan as a baby and a young girl wearing an eye patch.]