By: Kathryn Pentiuk | Southfield Sun | Published November 25, 2024
SOUTHFIELD — Before Southfield-based Attorney Jason Waechter became the “Motorcycle Lawyer” and Dr. Walter “Wally” Cukrowski became one of Michigan’s leading eye surgeons, the two were first-grade students at St. Hugo of the Hills Catholic School in Bloomfield Hills who also played football together in seventh and eighth grade.
Now, decades later, the two have reconnected to start a nonprofit, Vision of Justice, to perform free cataract surgeries on those who can’t afford the surgery. Their first surgery event will take place at one of the Michigan Eyecare Institute clinics on the second Thursday of December. Interested applicants should apply as soon as possible to be considered for the event.
To qualify for free cataract surgery, applicants must be legally blind in both eyes due to cataracts, experience financial hardship, and be a resident of Michigan.
“We went to Brother Rice together freshman year, and then from there, Wally went to Lahser. So then we kind of went our separate paths, I say,” Waechter said.
“And next thing I know, Wally’s a doctor, following his father’s footsteps, and I’m a lawyer, and maybe we saw each other along the road every five or 10 years. He went to my father’s funeral, which was in 2016, and it was great seeing him.”
Waechter said after reading about people in the U.S. staying blind because they couldn’t afford cataract surgery, he just so happened to bump into Cukrowski again.
“I’m like, ‘It’s meant to be. The stars are aligning here,’” Waechter said.
“I asked him about it. He says, ‘Yes, it was true.’ And then I kind of said to myself, ‘If I did really well on this one case, I would do something about this.’
“And then so I did really well on that case, and I said, ‘Well, I have to fulfill my promise I made to myself.’ So then I got in contact with Wally again, and he’s like, ‘Yeah, this sounds like something fantastic I’d like to do.’”
Waechter said the case that he was referring to was a client who was riding his motorcycle when he was sideswiped by a woman who was on her cellphone checking her blood glucose levels with an app while she was on the job. His whole left side was fractured, and he ended up losing his left leg.
After the insurance company wouldn’t settle the case, Waechter brought the case to Kent County Circuit Court for trial and was awarded a verdict of $27 million, which was reduced to present value.
Waechter said he had never previously made such a big attorney fee, but he knew the importance of giving back.
“You have to give back,” he said. “And even if you don’t have the money to give back, you give your time or something like that. So (I) wanted to give back. And this was something I was thinking about during the case.”
Cukrowski is currently one of the owners of the Michigan Eyecare Institute with offices in Dearborn, Livonia and Southfield.
“I just didn’t think that I would be blessed in such a way, but I’m so grateful to God that Jason’s in my life, and he thought of me, and then years later, here we are glorifying God by helping people together,” Cukrowski said.
Cataracts, which cloud the eye’s lens, are the leading cause of blindness worldwide and affect nearly 20.5 million Americans aged 40 and older. Although the blindness can be treated in a 10- to 20-minute procedure, the cost of surgery is often a deterrent for those suffering from this condition.
From his ophthalmology residency while at William Beaumont Hospital of Royal Oak, where he traveled to Japan and was trained by a world-renowned surgeon, to mission work in South America, Cukrowski has traveled all over the world to perform life-changing cataract surgeries.
“I just think back to when people have asked me to go on mission trips,” he said.
“Since 1994, we went to Guatemala, Nigeria, Calcutta and some other places in South America where these people are so blind they actually need a family member or friend to walk and to lead them around because they can’t even see their own hand. They just see … light perception.”
He added that at the Michigan Eyecare Institute in Flint, they have patients who come from all over Michigan and different parts of the world to have this surgery done at a lower cost than it would be if performed at a hospital.
“So we’re already equipped and have the experience over the last 30 years,” he said.
“Boy, with all the different places that I’ve been, I can see God has his hand on both of us to go ahead and help these patients that are fully in need, who are suffering from really severe cataracts.”
Interested candidates can visit Vision of Justice’s website at www.visionofjustice.com to fill out a form for the free surgery to see if they qualify.