PITTSBURGH -- Cpl. Michael Jernigan's last memory from a day in August 2004 is patrolling a road in Mahmudiyah, Iraq.
His next memory is six days later when he awoke -- now blind -- in an Army hospital in Bethesda, Md., with his head crushed in the front.
"I'd like to see my wife, who I've never laid eyes on, you know? I'd like to know what my son looks like. I'd like to see my mom again," Jernigan said Thursday.
Today, Jernigan's left eye is a sewn-shut eyelid. His right eye is a slit of white, the lid scarred. He has looked for ways to improve his quality of life and increase his independence.
On Thursday, he demonstrated a device called
BrainPort that restores "vision" through a sensor placed on his tongue, allowing him to identify objects and shapes.
"What I am processing is electrical impulses on my tongue, and I'm using parts of my brain -- like the vision cortex -- that haven't been active for a little while to process that information," said Jernigan.
The device is one of many things that the new
Center for Vision Restoration of UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh will research, thanks to a $3 million gift.
"That 1-inch square that the users place on their tongue -- they call it the lollipop, because they can't eat or talk with it in their mouths," said retired Major Gen. Gale Pollock, the center's executive director and a former Army Deputy Surgeon General.
Pollock introduced Jernigan to BrainPort in its early stages several years ago. Jernigan now uses it to perform stationary tasks.
"We are already working on the next generation that will help me walk down the sidewalk so I'm not going to walk into a trash can or a low-lying tree limb," Jernigan said.
"To give Mike a little bit of independence, and being able to see anything, empower him to feel that independence, is worth anything," said Jernigan's wife, Leslie.
The center will be named for Louis Fox, a Pitt graduate and retired commodities merchant banker who made the $3 million donation Thursday. He began to lose his sight 10 years ago.
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