REV. JESSE JACKSONJohns Hopkins University eye surgeons say they would be glad to examine singing sensation Stevie Wonder to find out if he is a good candidate for a high-tech eye chip implant that could restore his sight.
The singer’s friend, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, said the 49-year-old superstar deserves to see again, and noted the work Wonder has done to help the blind children of Africa.
“It would be a great note to end this millennium on,” Jackson told The Post yesterday.
Jackson was present when Wonder stunned mourners at a recent Detroit funeral by saying he plans to undergo the procedure, being developed by Dr. Mark Humayun of the Welmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore.
The new-age procedure involves implanting a microchip the thickness of a fingernail sliver in the retina, the light-sensitive portion of the eyeball. Light and images stimulate electrodes in the chip to send impulses to the brain.
So far, people tested with the device have been able only to pick out shapes and individual letters. But in the next five years, scientists hope to develop more sensitive chips that will let people read newspapers.
The Welmer institute said yesterday that Wonder, who has been blind since infancy, met with Humayun to discuss the eye chip, formally called an intraocular retinal prosthesis.
Although the eye surgeon told Wonder the device might not help him, the surgeon offered to examine the singer to see what his chances are, the institute said.
“The prosthesis could possibly help people who once had vision and later went blind from conditions such as retinitis pigmentosa. Mr. Wonder has very severe eye disease” and has been blind since he was a baby, the institute said.
Nevertheless, its doctors “would be happy to evaluate Mr. Wonder to determine if he would be an appropriate candidate.” So far, no appointment has been set, it said.
The singer’s publicist, Shelley Selover, had no comment.
Wonder made his stunning announcement that he plans to undergo the procedure before singing at the Nov. 15 funeral of Gwendolyn Gordy Fuqua, the sister of Motown mogul Berry Gordy.