EVMC holds Honor Walk for cornea donor
TACLOBAN CITY – The Eastern Visayas Medical Center (EVMC) held an Honor Walk as a tribute to a 43-year-old university professor who donated a cornea.
Kenneth Rey Afable, a computer science professor at the Eastern Samar State University, becomes the third cornea donor from Borongan City and the fourth in Eastern Visayas. He passed away due to cardiac arrest.
EVMC, in a statement, said the Honor Walk is “in recognition of his generosity and the gift of sight he has shared with others.”
“The Honor Walk served as a solemn expression of gratitude, bringing together healthcare workers to pay tribute to the donor and recognize the significance of his contribution,” EVMC stated.
EVMC Department of Ophthalmology was able to retrieve two corneas from his donation which will benefit individuals who may need corneal transplantation.
“Having been an eye tissue donor since 2019, his generosity represents a meaningful contribution that may continue to make a difference in the lives of others,” EVMC stated.
The hospital management said the EVMC Help Encourage Recycle Organ (HERO) Donation Team facilitated the consent process and coordination of the donation, helping ensure that the donor's generous gift could be carried out with respect and care.
Easter Visayas’ first cornea donor Kobe Andrei Tejero, who is now known as “Hero of Samar,” donated in August 20,2019 when he died in a road crash. Tejero’s mother, Marizo Tejero, who is a colleague of Afable at ESSU, helped in linking up the donor’s family with EVMC’s donation team.
The other donor, John Evan Caspe Almejas, is the first multiple organ donor in Eastern Visayas who donated in August 19, 2025.
“Behind every donation is a profound act of generosity that can open possibilities for others to experience the world through renewed sight,” EVMC said.
EVMC said it hopes this act of giving will inspire greater awareness of cornea donation and encourage others to consider how they, too, can help bring hope and the possibility of restored sight to those in need.
Afable’s interment is scheduled on November 3 after a mass at the Borongan Cathedral.
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