Guide Dog Fundraising

The accident that lead me to support ​Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind

Thank you to all those who have helped in my annual fundraisers for Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind.

​We've raised $3,263 since 2014. Continue reading below, to learn what lead me to support this wonderful cause.

In May 1997, I performed in one of my first-ever shows at The Second City in Chicago. It was a showcase for our training class, and I couldn't have known it would be the first of nearly 300 performances I’d take part in at The Second City. Back then, I could only dream of someday making a living as an actor.

During an improvisation game, I was accidentally struck in the eye by an errant fist from a fellow performer. I was standing directly behind him, and he had no idea what he had just done. The "shatter-resistant" right lens of my eyeglasses shattered into my eye. The pain was intense as I collapsed onto the stage, and the audience gasped in shock.

I was rushed downtown to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where a young, enthusiastic doctor tried his best not to reveal that I was going to be blind in my right eye. His reassurances to the contrary were transparent. He believed what I feared — that I’d never see from my right eye again.

At midnight, the head ophthalmological surgeon drove to the hospital and sewed my cornea back together with two tiny stitches. With both eyes taped shut for ten days to prevent movement, I wondered if I’d ever perform on stage again.

Over the next few months, I made many visits to the doctors. There was always a new ophthalmologist eager to examine my eyeball. Apparently, the story had made the rounds. Each new doctor would peer through the machine to get a closer look, then lean back. Every single one of them would say the same thing: "Wow. You are so lucky." The consensus was that if the plastic had cut just three millimeters to the left, I would have been blinded for life. But I wasn’t blinded — I was blessed. I can see.

Since then, I’ve tried never to take my sight for granted. But honestly, I still do all the time. I think all of us with sight probably do.

The Guide Dog Foundation provides guide dogs free of charge to people with disabilities. It costs $50,000 to raise and train one guide dog. The Guide Dog Foundation has earned the highest possible (4-star) rating from Charity Navigator and is rated as a top "A" charity by CharityWatch.

Please click the button below and give what you can afford — even if it’s just "five bones."

Thank you for your support.

Joel Mehr

Postscript: Almost 22 years later, I was hired as a Senior Systems Engineer for Microsoft systems at Northwestern Medicine—the very place where my eyesight was saved.