His Sight & Future Restored

Lmesinae is 12 year-old boy living in Kenya. He had grown blind since early childhood. Lmesinae had cataracts, a cloudiness that occurs in the lens of the eye. Cataracts are treatable but this depends on access to trained doctors and facilities. Fortunately, Lmesinae was able to receive treatment from a Fred Hollows supported Eye Unit. With his sight restored he has now has a real chance at life.

Just like Lesminae, over 40 million blind people in the developing world face uncertainty. The tragedy is with treatment 3 in 4 of those suffering can be cured. Last year The Foundation screened over 1 million people and carried out 143,759 surgeries. Over the next five years we aim to double this number. For this to happen we need your support.

Lmesinae lives in a remote part of Kenya, many hours drive from the nearest town. His village is really just a semi-permanent collection of mud huts, with a token fence to keep the animals off the rare scraps of vegetation.

Lmesinae had grown increasingly blind from early childhood. Explaining why he is exceptionally shy.

Lmesinae's blindness made it difficult for him to cope with his schoolwork.

With only a few hard working teachers to educate many children, his local school couldn't deal with the special needs of a blind child.

Lmesinae’s teachers wanted to help him. They inquired about schools specialising in teaching children with disabilities. The nearest was a boarding school in Maralal, a three hour drive from his village. For a family with no access to transport, it might as well be an ocean away.

When Lmesinae arrived at his new school, the teachers there, familiar with blindness, realised that he had cataract, a cloudiness that can occur in the lens of the eye.

The great news is that cataract can be treated with a 20 minute operation that can cost as little as $25 in some developing countries. Dr Maina removed the cataracts from each of Lmesinae's eyes, and replaced the clouded lenses with a tiny plastic equivalent, called an intraocular lens. Lmesinae was sent to the Children’s Eye Unit in Nakuru for treatment.

The Fred Hollows Foundation has worked with the Nakuru Eye Unit for some years, providing training and equipment and helping to deliver a special children’s surgery unit.

The doctor who operated on Lmesinae, Dr James Maina, was trained by The Fred Hollows Foundation. He removed the cataracts from each of Lmesinae’s eyes, and replaced the clouded lenses with a tiny plastic equivalent, called an intraocular lens (IOL).

When the bandages were removed and Lmesinae opened his eyes, he flashed the most wonderful smile.

All the work and commitment to train doctors like James Maina, to train the nurses, let people know the services are available, screen the patients – all of it was repaid a million times over with that smile.

We took Lmesinae back to his village and his beaming mother threw her arms around him and wept, astounded and grateful. 'Thank you very much for your work. Thank you for helping my son,' she said.

A gift of as little as $25 can transform the life of a child like Lmenisae, because $25 can restore sight. Shy 12 year old Lmesinae had cataracts in both eyes and faced an uncertain future. Sight restoring surgery changed his life. 3 out of 4 cases of blindness in the third world are preventable or can be treated, just as Lmesinae was treated.

Lmesinae really wanted to be a teacher, now with his sight restored he has hope and opportunity to realise his dream.

This is the reality that drove the late Fred Hollows to make IOL’s affordable to people in developing countries.

This is the reason he worked so hard to train local eye nurses and ophthalmologists, and equip units like the Nakuru Eye Unit where Lmesinae was treated.

This is why he and others set up The Fred Hollows Foundation, which continues this work, fifteen years now since Fred’s death.

We could not do this work without you. 

A gift of $25 can restore sight to one eye, $50 can restore the sight of 2 people, $250 can restore the sight of 10 people.

Last year, thanks to donations from supports like you, The Foundation screened more than 1 million people and carried out 143,759 surgeries and sight saving procedures.

The aim of the program in Kenya is to develop a cost-sustainable model for blindness prevention. It is anticipated that this model may be able to be replicated throughout Eastern Africa in the future. That’s 12,000 sight-restoring operations every single month.

Now here’s the challenge.

Over the next five years we want to double the number of people we screen and treat.

It is a huge goal, but it is a fitting tribute to Fred Hollows. 

Without his operations, Lmesinae would probably have spent the rest of his life in an institution, with no future, and no hope. Now, he may well fulfil his dream of becoming a teacher.

Will you make a tax-deductible gift now that will bring sight to someone in the developing world, someone like Lmesinae?

It is not often that we have in our hands the power to create miracles. You have that power now.

Please make the most generous gift you can manage.