Stem cell transplant restores vision in patient who was blinded in left eye after injury

Nick Kharufeh said he never thought he would see out of his left eye again after suffering an injury several years ago. Now, he is advocating for the procedure that restored his vision.

The accident that cost Kharufeh his vision occurred on July 4, 2020, when he was at his aunt's house in Rialto, California -- about 10 miles north of Riverside -- for a block party, he said. Fireworks were lit for the holiday, with one of them exploding onto the ground instead of shooting up in the air, he told ABC News.

The 28-year-old said the sparks "came into the crowd on both sides of the street," with Kharufeh getting a direct hit in his left eye.

He approached his dad and said, "Hey, I can't see out of my left eye," but the damage couldn't be examined because it was dark outside.

Kharufeh went inside to show his mom, who took one look at him and passed out, he said.

"I was like, 'You know what, this is bad,'" Khaurfeh told ABC News.

Once he arrived at the hospital, doctors told Kharufeh they would need to "remove whatever was left" of his eye. But a specialist later discovered his eye was still intact, and would not need to be taken out.

"He decided, 'You can keep it, it's probably very risky. You're never going to see out of it again, but it's there,'" Kharufeh said. "When I heard that, I felt a sigh of relief. I knew I might not be able to see perfectly fine out of it, but I knew I could keep it and see if anything ever came up."

He said he received a second opinion from another hospital, who confirmed his eye was intact, but they emphasized to Kharufeh that "there's not really any procedures that can fix that."

Kharufeh, who was 23 at the time, moved back home with his parents and tried to hide his injury from the world.

"I didn't even look at myself in the mirror. I didn't tell any of my friends about it for months," Kharufeh said.

But in September 2020, his mom found out about a clinical trial in Boston for a first-of-its-kind operation that could potentially restore Kharufeh's cornea and bring back his vision. The trial was held at Mass Eye and Ear, an international center for treatment that is a member of Mass General Brigham and a teaching hospital for Harvard Medical School.

"When I found out Mass Eye and Ear could help me, or that they were at least willing to try, it was a huge weight lifted off my chest," Kharufeh said. "I was willing to give up my whole life to come out here."

The treatment, called a cultivated autologous limbal epithelial cell transplantation -- or CALEC -- can help restore surface corneal epithelial cells, which can be destroyed after chemical burns, infections or other injuries, according to Dr. Ula Jurkunas, an ophthalmologist and associate director of the cornea service at Mass Eye and Ear who performed Kharufeh's surgery.

"This is the first stem cell trial in the cornea in the U.S., and is paving the way for further treatments of this sort," Jurkunas told ABC News.

When the cells are depleted in the cornea, patients can then experience painful blindness and a loss of vision, Jurkunas said. Restoring those stem cells by growing them in a lab can treat the cell deficiency that gives rise to corneal blood vessel growth, cloudiness and pain, Jurkunas said.

Jurkunas said the transplant involves taking a small biopsy from a healthy eye, extracting the stem cells in a lab, growing them to a sheet of cells that can "later be transplanted onto the patient's diseased eye."

Kharufeh said his biopsy occurred in January 2021 and his transplant was completed the next month.

In the years after the operation, Kharufeh said his vision is restored to about 50% of what it was before. He added that his pain has vanished and the appearance of his eye "looks a lot more normal."

"I couldn't work for a couple of years; I couldn't meet new people. So [I am] very happy with where it's at now," Kharufeh said.

Out of the 14 trial participants, about 92% were able to have a restoration of the corneal surface at 12 to 18 months post-operation, and 72% experienced vision improvement, Jurkunas said.

After the knowledge gained from this trial, Jurkunas said this operation could be available for "many more patients" and hopes to develop a way to treat those with bilateral eye injuries.

Kharufeh said he hopes that as more people learn about the CALEC procedure, it will become a mainstream form of treatment and "the next big thing" for patients with eye injuries.

"Fourth of July is not going away, fireworks are not going away, so [these injuries are] going to keep happening," Kharufeh said. "Being able to see again, look at yourself in the mirror and look like you is just so impactful."

Kharufeh said he will run the Boston Marathon in April for Mass Eye and Ear to raise money for those wanting to have the CALEC procedure.