Mother gives her son the gift of sight from beyond the grave as Florida doctors perform rare corneal transplant Musician Juan Aguirre, 39, underwent corneal transplant after his mother donated her eyes before her death September 30 to restore his vision At age 5, Mr Aguirre was struck by a car in Cuba, leaving cornea in his left eye severely scarred Miriam Aguirre Santos also donated her kidneys and liver, saving the lives of two people Before her passing at age 61 last month, Miriam Aguirre Santos restated and put down in writing her final wish - to have her eyes given to her son. When he was 5 years old, the Cuban-born Juan Aguirre was struck by a drunken driver while walking on the island where his family owned a house. The crash damaged the cornea in his left eye, leaving his vision permanently blurry. But all that changed earlier this month. Dying wish: Miriam Aguirre Santos (left) died from a heart attack at age 61, but not before making sure that doctors will use her eyes to restore the eyesight of her 39-year-old son, Juan (right) Within days of his mother's death from a heart attack, Mr Aguirre, 39, underwent the first ever mother-son corneal transplant surgery in the history of the Florida Lions Eye Bank. "It's like a whole new world has opened up," the 39-year old Aguirre told the Miami Herald. I'm seeing things like I never did before. Everything is very, very colorful. Juan's childhood accident that left his cornea severely scarred did not stop him from becoming a successful musician performing under the stage name Diablo Dimes. In 2011, Aguirre moved his wife and two children from Miami, where their extended family settled after immigrating to the U.S. in 1980, to rural Virginia. His mother, who had been widowed for two decades, stayed behind despite Juan's efforts to relocate her closer to his new home in the Shenandoah Valley. On the day of his mother's 61st birthday September 30, Juan Aguirre got a call that she had suffered a fatal heart attack. Tragic accident: When Juan Aguirre was 5 years old, he was struck by a car, leaving him with damaged cornea in his left eye. However, that didn't stop him from becoming a singer performing under the name Diablo Dimes Miriam Aguirre Santos was an organ donor, and before her passing she reiterated that she wanted doctors to use her eyes to restore her son's damaged vision. The 61-year-old woman's corneas turned out to be healthy, and since the organs can only be preserved for a week, doctors rushed to perform the operation. Elizabeth Fout-Caraze, the executive director of the Florida Lions Eye Bank, warned the Aguirre family that the chances of the transplant being successful were slim to none because of the numerous variables involved in the procedure. Hoping for a miracle, the doctors and Mr Aguirre decided to go through with the surgery. On October 1, Amescua cut a hole about 8mm in diameter from Juan Aguirre's left eye, then grafted the eye with matching slice of cornea from his mother's eye. Historic surgery: In Florida Lions Eye Bank's first mother-son transplant, doctors cut a piece of Juan Aguirre's cornea (not pictured) and grafted the eye with a piece of his mother's cornea Against all odds, the transplant took and Aguirre returned home to Virginia the next day. Doctrs predict that the singer-songwriter will be seeing better than ever before within nine months to a year. Although it took some time for the Aguirre clan to come on board with the transplant idea, given that organ donation is not viewed favorably in the Hispanic community, the relatives eventually accepted Miriam's final wish. Besides her eyes, which she had donated to help her son, Aguirre Santos saved the lives of two other people who received her liver and kidneys. Lifesaver: Besides helping her son, Miss Aguirre Santos gave two other people a new lease on life by donating her liver and kidneys As for Juan Aguirre, he said that every time he looks at himself in the mirror now, he sees his mother's eyes staring back at him. 'I know that she'll be with me forever,' he told the paper.