Cornea transplant keeps World Special Olympics champion in the game

“The best option for you and your baby is to put her in an institution.”

That’s what a doctor told Julie Bertelsen’s parents 39 years ago when she was born with Downs Syndrome. Allen and Jan Bertelsen ignored that doctor.

Since then all Julie has done to validate her parents’ faith in her future is:

• Win 135 Special Olympics medals in gymnastics and equestrian events, including a Gold and a Silver in the 2007 World Summer Games in Shanghai, China;
• Serve on state and local Special Olympics advisory committees and as an ambassador for the games;
• Work multiple long-term jobs. Julie currently works at the athletic facility for Montana State University and at two local sporting goods stores;
• Win a large following both within the university and the surrounding community from fans who take inspiration from seeing positivism and spunk exuded on a daily basis.

In fact, it seemed like the whole city was at the airport to greet Julie when she returned home from the 2007 games in China. Every member of the Montana State women’s basketball team was in the crowd, as well as athletes from many of the other university teams, customers of the businesses where Julie works, employers, family, and just plain fans.

How SightLife fits in

In 1999 when Julie was 29 years old, the athletic career that has brought her so much joy faced a premature end from impending blindness in her right eye. Cornea tissue from SightLife enabled the sight-restoring transplant that saved her vision and provided continued opportunity to excel in sports.

Last year, SightLife weighed in again for Julie when she faced the most devastating loss of her life. Allen Betelsen, Julie’s father, coach, and lifelong hero died at the age of 69. After seeing what cornea donation had made possible for Julie, there was never a doubt that he would be a donor. Allen’s gifts took wing to Japan, where they gave restored sight to a 90-year-old woman and a 64-year-old man.

Julie found both comfort and pride in her father’s gift. The man who served as her role model and best friend in life gave her one last lesson in the indistinguishable flame of human kindness. Julie’s personal experience as a cornea recipient who got to keep doing what she loved in life through the gift of a stranger intensified her pride in her father’s gifts.

It seems fitting. The wings that Julie received from a stranger’s gift took her to China and a gold medal in the World Games. Now two people in faraway Japan see the world through the eyes of her father and hero. For this woman who has used parental love and God-given spunk to achieve beyond expectations, the lesson was learned long ago: human kindness is a gift that always comes around.