Patient turns gratitude into impact through generous gift

When Val Withington woke up with significant vision loss in her left eye, she was truly frightened.

“I work with writing and art, so if I lose my vision, to me it’s everything,” Val shared.

As an artist agent and writer, her life has revolved around fine art and co-writing books with her late husband. Vision loss threatened not only her well-being, but also her lifelong passion.

She quickly made an emergency appointment at OptimEyes, where her ophthalmologist urged her to immediately go to Henry Ford Hospital to be seen.

Val’s health scare came in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, when large patient volumes and infection prevention measures made consultations particularly challenging and harrowing to navigate. Despite this, Val’s care team — among them former Henry Ford physicians Drs. Venkatkrish Kasetty and Rohit Goel — leapt into action.

“The whole thing was so impressive,” Val recalled. “The corridors were packed with people, all the rooms were full, but the ophthalmology and rheumatology teams met with me almost immediately and found me a private space.”

During her consultation, Val was diagnosed with giant cell arteritis (GCA) — a condition that causes the lining of arteries to swell, reducing blood flow. Prompt treatment can address the symptoms, but the condition can relapse. Val learned she would need an operation to remove a section of artery from her forehead to confirm their diagnosis, followed by symptom management with corticosteroid treatments.

Just six months prior, she had lost her husband. Deep in grief and facing an unexpected medical emergency during a time when no family or friends were allowed to visit the hospital, she leaned on her care team for support. While it was a frightening time, Val credits the teamwork and compassionate care delivered by her nurses and physicians for making the experience better.

“Everybody helped to put me at ease, because it was terrifying. It couldn’t have been better,” she said. “The kindness, compassion…I never felt nervous going to any appointment. I knew I was in really good hands.”

After months of treatments to manage her symptoms, Val’s doctor offered her the option to try a new medication that, while typically prescribed for rheumatoid arthritis, had shown promise for GCA. The experimental program would take her off steroid treatments.

“I decided to take the bull by the horns and said ‘yes, please!’”

This February, after years of regular self-injections, Val’s care team told her she could be taken off the medication for the near future. Today, she has 20/20 vision for the first time since the health scare and is enjoying her life symptom-free.

In recognition of her care experience, Val made a generous gift toward the Vision Solutions Endowed Fund, which supports ophthalmic research to drive treatment innovations for vision loss. Her goal?

“Progress, rapid progress. I was inspired by wanting to help anyone who has my same problem. I want to support research toward finding more out about it,” Val explained.

Val was also motivated to join the National Institutes of Health All of Us Research Program to help advance GCA research after learning that the condition could have a genetic component. All of Us leverages health data from participants to discover how genetic factors impact health and well-being, power future research and to advance precision medicine on a wide scale.

After a patient experience marked by rapid response and profound compassion, Val’s generosity will help pave the way for excellent care and outcomes for other patients just like herself.