Because of the generosity of Eye on Grace donors, Carrie Ann Swaim has been able to experience moments she once thought were out of reach. Your support has given her the freedom to travel for treatment, continue working, and still spend precious time with the people she loves most.

“Thanks to you, I’m reaching milestones I never imagined possible. I recently witnessed one of life’s greatest joys: the birth of my first grandchild. In December, I’ll proudly watch my youngest son’s wedding. And this past summer, I celebrated my 50th birthday, something that, just three years ago, felt like an impossible dream.

‘Thank you’ hardly feels like enough. Your kindness has changed my life, and your gift means the world to me and my family.”

At Carrie’s first diagnosis of metastatic disease, she was living a lifestyle familiar to many with ocular melanoma. Every Sunday after church, she would travel eight hours from her home in Oklahoma to Houston for treatment. She would return by 3 pm on Wednesday so she could be back in time for Youth Group on Wednesday night. Her entire life was scheduled around those three days away each week. “It was tough,” she says, “but God helped it all fall into place.”

Now, thanks to Eye on Grace Foundation, she is flying to Philadelphia once a month for a little less than a week. “It still takes a lot of juggling and planning around treatment schedules, but we are blessed with a support system that helps make it work,” Carrie says.

“The Eye on Grace Foundation is one of the biggest blessings I have received in my ocular melanoma journey. Just as my oncologist was telling me there was no other treatment available, I applied for a grant and discovered opportunities I had never considered due to the cost of travel.

“It was definitely a ‘God’ moment! The hope the foundation provided when everything else looked bleak was just what I needed. Being able to travel for treatment is already making a huge difference as my tumors are responding to the new treatment.”

Carrie shares that having this disease often makes her feel like an imposter. She doesn’t look “sick.” She doesn’t look, nor does she feel, like she has a terminal disease.

“It’s difficult to explain to people that there is no remission, and the cancer will never be gone. This disease is taking a physical toll on my body as well as an emotional toll. Although I can usually put a smile on my face, much of the time it is masking pain, exhaustion, fear, and grief,” she says.

But, despite the difficulties and the frustration, there is hope! God has put instrumental people in her life each step of the way and has never left her side. “I was given 9 months to live, at most, and that was 38 months ago. God is good all the time, and I thank Him for every day until He calls me home.

“I’m so incredibly thankful for the travel grant. Your gift means the world to my family and me.”