Alabama player battling an eye-eating amoeba
Alabama special teams player Ryan Parris played in Saturdayās A-Game with an opponent that would cause most people to run scared.
The Madison, Ala. native turned Crimson Tide football walkon long-snapper is battling an eye-eating amoeba that may rob him of his vision before things are said and done.
So how did he even make it onto the field for two snaps on Saturday?
AL.comās Joseph Goodman provides the answer:
Three reasons. One, he loves football. Two, he loves Alabama. Three, heās really, really tough.
He also follows all of Nick Sabanās rules.
Goodman wrote one of those rules is not speaking to the media without permission, so his feature story on Parris went without quotes from the Crimson Tide football player.
But he was able to speak with Parrisā father, who shared some of the gruesome details of his sonās eye condition.
Essentially, thereās an amoeba living on Parrisā eye, and its food is his eye. Thatās both gross and scary.
Goodman reports that doctors call this rare affliction Acanthamoeba keratitis, for those that are medically curious.
Parrisā vision has deteriorated to the point of being declared legally blind, according to his father.
Aggressively potent eye drops are only part of the remedy. Parris also has to take some pretty interesting measures in an effort to combat the amoeba:
The eye drops are nothing, really, when compared to one of Ryanās other medical interventions. The transplantation of āamniotic membrane discsā is an interesting thing. Weāll let Ryanās father explain: āThey take shavings from the placenta after the birth of a woman who has had a C-section.ā
And they drop it on the eye like a blanket.
āThis is where medicine loses me,ā Butch Parris said. āIām not a dumb guy, but this is unbelievable what they do.ā
Parris is hopeful to be able to suit up and play this fall, but thereās a chance that he may have seen his last snaps for the Crimson Tide at the spring game.
We wish him the best in his fight to overcome this affliction.
Alabama special teams player Ryan Parris played in Saturdayās A-Game with an opponent that would cause most people to run scared.
The Madison, Ala. native turned Crimson Tide football walkon long-snapper is battling an eye-eating amoeba that may rob him of his vision before things are said and done.
So how did he even make it onto the field for two snaps on Saturday?
AL.comās Joseph Goodman provides the answer:
Three reasons. One, he loves football. Two, he loves Alabama. Three, heās really, really tough.
He also follows all of Nick Sabanās rules.
Goodman wrote one of those rules is not speaking to the media without permission, so his feature story on Parris went without quotes from the Crimson Tide football player.
But he was able to speak with Parrisā father, who shared some of the gruesome details of his sonās eye condition.
Essentially, thereās an amoeba living on Parrisā eye, and its food is his eye. Thatās both gross and scary.
Goodman reports that doctors call this rare affliction Acanthamoeba keratitis, for those that are medically curious.
Parrisā vision has deteriorated to the point of being declared legally blind, according to his father.
Aggressively potent eye drops are only part of the remedy. Parris also has to take some pretty interesting measures in an effort to combat the amoeba:
The eye drops are nothing, really, when compared to one of Ryanās other medical interventions. The transplantation of āamniotic membrane discsā is an interesting thing. Weāll let Ryanās father explain: āThey take shavings from the placenta after the birth of a woman who has had a C-section.ā
And they drop it on the eye like a blanket.
āThis is where medicine loses me,ā Butch Parris said. āIām not a dumb guy, but this is unbelievable what they do.ā
Parris is hopeful to be able to suit up and play this fall, but thereās a chance that he may have seen his last snaps for the Crimson Tide at the spring game.
We wish him the best in his fight to overcome this affliction.
