By Nate Jones

Staff Writer 

Forty-eight hours after finishing 16^th in this year’s Beach to Beacon 10k road race, Ethiopian native Dejene Birhanu was sleeping soundly in Kerri and Jeff Berman’s home in Cape Elizabeth. His exhaustion had less to do with running, however, than it did a favor from his host family. 

Jeff Berman, an ophthalmologist with Maine Eye Center, said he noticed something about Birhanu’s right eye when he first visited their home two years ago. He said Birhanu was most likely born with ptosis, a muscle problem in the eyelid that causes the eye to look “droopy,” and makes it hard to open. Kerri Berman said she didn’t need a medical degree to see that something was different about Birhanu’s right eye.

“You could see it when he smiled,” she said. “It was like he had to really try to open it.”

Jeff Berman said he promised to fix Birhanu’s eye if he returned to run in 2009, but Jeff Berman was unsure if he would ever get the chance.

“We didn’t know if we would see him again,” he said. “A lot of it is luck of the draw.”

Birhanu’s luck held out. Although Jeff Berman said Birhanu felt “disappointed” with his performance during the race – he was hindered by an ankle injury – he expressed only thanks for the Berman’s efforts to fix the problem he has lived with since birth.

“He’s just so grateful all the time,” Kerri Berman said. 

Oculoplastic surgeon Natan Kahn and Jeff Berman operated on Birhanu Monday morning, free of charge. In addition to volunteering his own time, Jeff Berman said specialists from Spectrum Anesthesia and other doctors with Maine Eye Center volunteered and provided space for the procedure – a relatively simple surgery typically done around ages 3 or 4 in the United States, he said. 

“It isn’t a problem to do it, it’s just getting him to the right spot,” Jeff Berman said. “Insurance would typically cover it, if you had insurance.”

Perhaps the only thing more difficult than coordinating the surgery was convincing Birhanu to take pain medication after the procedure, Kerri Berman said. 

“We had to convince him it was OK to take two Tylenol,” she said. “It’s crazy, we take them like it’s nothing.”

Birhanu’s reluctance to take medication comes from strict drug regulations for athletes, Jeff Berman said. He said Birhanu is spontaneously visited up to 50 times in a single year by an anti-doping commission to ensure he does not take performance-enhancing drugs, a regulation that ensures clean competition but creates an elevated nervousness when it comes to what they eat, drink and take for medication. Jeff Berman said one runner had been accused of taking drugs just because she had eaten a poppy seed bagel. 

“They’re all horrified,” Jeff Berman said. “Talk about clean athletes, these guys are squeaky clean.”

Jeff Berman said he wrote a special letter to the commission so Birhanu could take pain medication. Birhanu should recover from the surgery – which typically costs between $4,000 and $5,000 – in the next couple of weeks, he said. Birhanu is expected to travel to Boston for help with his ankle injury before returning to Ethiopia, Jeff Berman said.

Staff Writer Nate Jones may be reached at 282-4337 ext. 233.

Editors note: This story was updated Aug. 6, 2009, to include Dr. Natan Kahn, who contributed to the procedure.