Chicago Sky goalscorer Diamond Deshields said the free eye clinic, the first in its series this year, left them “overwhelmed with feelings of gratitude and love. “Diamond Deshields has always been a great basketball player playground – even if they can’t see the basket.
“I didn’t even know anything was wrong. My eyesight was always blurry,” recalls DeShields, 26, who grew up in College Park, Georgia. “On the court, the edge of the basket was blurred, doubled. So I don’t think it’s a big deal.”
Countless expensive lenses and two operations later, DeShields, now a Chicago Sky WNBA shooter, today appreciates how big and clear his vision is. He spoke to PEOPLE after a two-day free eye clinic he organized with Oakley and global vision aid organization OneSight, June 18-19 in his South Side neighborhood of Chicago.
The clinic, which was the first in a OneSight and Oakley chain in the country that year, provided free eye exams and glasses to nearly 200 children and adults. Among them were the Humphreys: Regina, James Jr., and James Sr. “Their house recently caught fire, and they lost everything,” DeShields said. The trio was also given new glasses for James Sr. to replace the glaucoma medication lost in the fire.
“Seeing him come in and get what he needed was a strong moment, a strong moment for me,” said DeShields. “That’s personal to me too.”
At the end of the two-day clinic, which looked like a festive block party, OneSight President and CEO K-T-Overbey celebrated the work of the volunteers and doctors. “Clear vision has the power to change lives,” says Overby. DeShields added, “I didn’t know how getting these glasses would change people’s lives, but I did know that my first glasses changed me. They opened up the game for me to basketball, and I wouldn’t be playing at the level I am today without them. “
“This is private.”
One of four children supported by a single mother, DeShields, said that she hesitated to “put something else on my mother’s plate” and complained about her blurred vision as a young girl. So before DeShields turned 15 and fell asleep in class: “I can’t see the blackboard, and if I can see things dimly, I’ll feel sleepy,” he told his mother and an ophthalmologist.
The diagnosis is keratoconus, a progressive thinning and cone-like protrusion of the cornea that impairs vision. Treatment is with glass contact lenses, which cost $1,200 per pair, with prescriptions changing every 4 to 6 months due to the condition’s progressive nature.