VISION AWARDS 2010: 40TH ANNIVERSARY TO HONOR 2010 GOLD MEDAL WINNING OLYMPIAN STEVE HOLCOMB

40TH ANNIVERSARY PRESENTATION OF "THE VISION AWARDS" TO HONOR 2010 GOLD MEDAL WINNING OLYMPIAN STEVE HOLCOMB AND THE MAN WHO RESTORED HIS VISION, BRIAN BOXER WACHLER, MD;
"The Vision Awards" Raise Funds For Medical Research To Combat Various Causes of Visual Impairment, Including Retinitis Pigmentosa and Macular Degeneration

Hollywood, CA, July 1, 2010 -- The 40th Anniversary presentation of "The Vision Awards™", set to take place on Sept. 23, 2010, in Beverly Hills, will present a special "Athlete of Vision Award" to 2010 U. S. Gold Medalist Steve Holcomb, and a "Jules Stein Living Tribute Vision Award" to Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler, the doctor who restored Holcomb's vision. These honorees were announced today by Helen Harris, founder of Retinitis Pigmentosa International, the presenting organization behind those awards.

Mrs. Harris, herself blind, launched both RP International and The Vision Awards in 1970 as high profile vehicles by which to raise awareness of the millions of people who fight against the gradual loss of their vision from both RP and Macular Degeneration. The Vision Awards also raise funds for medical research. (Please see: www.rpinternational.org and www.visionawards.org )

Mrs. Harris said, "Steve Holcomb is an extraordinary athlete who began losing his vision years ago, and wasn't sure if he would be able to participate in the 2010 Olympics. However, shortly after having his 'Keratoconus' cured with a C3-R treatment by the amazing Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler, and receiving contact lenses to further improve his vision, Steve won the World Bobsled Championship -- the first U.S. medal in bobsled in 50 years. He then went on to win a U.S. Gold Medal in Bobsled at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. Steve and Brian are both heroes, by bringing the attention of the world to this condition and this exciting new treatment."

Each year, The Vision Awards focuses its appreciation on individuals who have used their sight, foresight, and insight to further the development of the creative arts for the benefit and enrichment of humankind. The awards honor accomplished 'Visionaries' from across the entertainment industry spectrum – film, TV, music, and live performance -- as well as from the arenas of sports and medicine. It has been previously announced that legendary, longtime newscaster Dan Rather, longtime entertainment industry figures Stanley Jaffe and George Schlatter will each receive a 2010 "Lifetime Achievement Vision Award" for their extraordinary achievements in film and television, and world renowned genius inventor Ray Kurzweil will also receive honors.

Previous recipients of Vision Awards include Bob Hope, Aaron Spelling, Bill Cosby, James Cameron, Steven Spielberg, Robert Wise, Lawrence Kasdan, Robert Zemeckis, Joel Schumacher, Oliver Stone, Richard Donner, Lauren Shuler-Donner, Lawrence Bender, William Friedkin, Tim Burton, John Frankenheimer, Roone Arledge, Sherry Lansing, Robert Towne, Tom Cruise, Bill Mechanic, and Phil Collins, among many others.

ABOUT STEVE HOLCOMB:
Steve Holcomb, a 5'10", 230-pound computer technician and specialist in the Utah National Guard, has struggled with poor vision since high school. He suffers from keratoconus, a degenerative eye disorder in which the cornea distorts, causing streaking and blurring in the vision. Laser eye surgery in 2000, two years after he joined the national bobsled team, failed to improve his condition, and by '07 his vision had deteriorated to 20/500. Though he'd taught himself to drive the sled by feel and memory more than by sight, Holcomb feared that his vision problems might endanger his teammates.

Traditional corneal surgery would have left his eyes susceptible to damage from a jarring bobsled run. So in March 2009, he underwent a radical procedure, yet to be approved by the FDA, called C3-R in which his doctor, Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler of Beverly Hills, implanted a lens behind each iris. When he woke from the surgery, Holcomb immediately noticed the detail of the palm trees in one of the posters on his doctor's wall. "An hour before, I didn't even know there were posters there," he said. "It was a new world."

Thanks to that clearer vision, Holcomb won medals in four of his first five World Cup races during the early 2010 season, and well as winning a U. S. Olympics Gold Medal in Bobsled in Vancouver this past February.

ABOUT DR. BRIAN BOXER WACHLER:
Thanks to Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler of the Beverly Hills, CA-based Boxer Wachler Vision Institute, U.S. bobsled Capt. Steve Holcomb brought home an Olympic Gold Medal from the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. The story of how Holcomb went from going blind due to a degenerative eye condition called Keratoconus, to having his vision restored by Dr. Wachler through a new medical procedure called C3-R has raised global awareness of this condition and treatment.

"Keratoconus can be a devastating condition, and it affects millions of people worldwide," says Dr. Boxer Wachler. "Keratoconus can take away from people the ability to read, to drive a car, and to just live a normal life. When Steve first came to my office, he was facing having to leave his sport because he could no longer see well enough to drive his bobsled downhill."

Holcomb's coaches and the U.S. Olympic Committee weren't ready to give up on their best bobsled driver. They researched C3-R, then a relatively new procedure, and thought it was the best chance to save Holcomb's eyesight. The USOC and the USA Bobsled and Skeleton Federation took the exceptional step of paying for Holcomb to have the treatment.

"Previously, the only treatment for severe Keratoconus was a cornea transplant," says Dr. Boxer Wachler. "This is why C3-R is being seen as such a breakthrough. C3-R is non-surgical. It uses vitamin applications and light to strengthen the cornea. C3-R can cure the disease without the need for a cornea transplant. The treatment only takes 30 minutes and can be done in a doctor's office."

Dr. Boxer Wachler has successfully treated numerous Keratoconus patients with C3-R over the last six years. However, the procedure faces criticism from the medical community. "It can be hard to get doctors to switch to a new procedure, especially one so radically different," he says. "But now that is dramatically changing because of Steve Holcomb's story. His restored vision has made doctors and patients all over the world aware of C3-R."

ABOUT HELEN HARRIS:
Helen Harris has been a tireless advocate on behalf of people with visual impairments for the past 40 years. Herself a victim of Retinitis Pigmentosa, and legally blind for more than three decades (when she was a young mother, two of her three sons, ages 2 and 5, were also afflicted by the disease), Mrs. Harris personally knows all too well the helpless and hopeless feeling of having a disease that is little known. She is the founder of Retinitis Pigmentosa International and The Vision Awards, which she has dedicated to the "preservation and restoration of sight."

Mrs. Harris is also an author of the book, "How to Survive Losing Vision," as well as a poet, a painter, and a member of the Producers Guild of America. She has testified before Congress about major issues facing the blind, and has also enlisted the aid of hundreds of major Hollywood directors, producers, and stars -- as well as that of former President George H. W. Bush -- in the creation of "TheatreVision™" presentations.

ABOUT THEATREVISION:
Currently marking its 20th year, TheatreVision, conceived and developed by Harris, is a unique program for the blind that makes feature film presentations accessible to the visually challenged through the addition of a unique narration and special soundtrack describing the action on screen. The Los Angeles Times recently ran an article profiling this program.

To date, over 100 Hollywood feature films have been produced in TheatreVision, with many having been narrated by noted celebrities. These have included "Forrest Gump," "Titanic" (narrated by James Cameron and Angie Dickinson), "Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menance" (narrated by Samuel L. Jackson), "Mission Impossible," "Apollo 13" (narrated by William Shatner), and "It's A Wonderful Light" (narrated by President George H. W. Bush). More recent entries have included "Twlight," "Valkkyrie," "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Inglourious Basterds," "Seven Pounds," and "Terminator 2: Judgment Day."

ABOUT RPI:
From modest beginnings, RPI has grown into a global organization, committed to focusing world attention on eye problems, and to promote research, public awareness, education, and human services for victims of degenerative eye diseases. With the support of dedicated volunteers, including many entertainment, political, and sports figures, RPI has raised over $ 5-million to date for eye research and education during the past 40 years of telethons and special events, including its annual "Vision Awards" fundraiser. In addition, RPI has also enlisted other donors into contributing more than $ 300-million directly to medical research for eye health.

Said Mrs. Harris, "RPI has made a real difference. Within just the past several years alone, great strides have been made in retinal transplantation. What was impossible to even imagine five years ago will almost certainly become a reality within the next decade. New technologies and medical techniques have brought us to the threshold of hope, to the day when Retinitis Pigmentosa or Macular Degeneration will no longer carry with it a lifetime of darkness."

For more information, please visit: www.rpinternational.org and www.visionawards.org.