Family’s struggle with cataracts ends after donor funds surgery

Siaya,

Tuesday, October 31, 2023

KNA by Calvin Otieno

In Got Anyango Village in Central Asembo location, Rarieda Sub County in Siaya, 35-year-old Boniface Otieno and his wife Eveline Otieno aged 26 could pass for an ordinary couple engaging in the typical small village life.

This seemingly ordinary appearance is a sharp contrast to the struggle that the family has been dealing with, and until recently, did not know the cause and could not afford any form of medical intervention.

Eveline, now a mother of four recalls her never ending battle with what she termed as difficulty in seeing especially indoors and in poor light, a struggle she has been living with from her childhood years.

Shortly after she gave birth to her third born son, she noticed the baby had very little notice of his surroundings and hardly coordinated his vision to movements, now seven years old he still faced the same challenge which has made even learning an uphill task since he relies on his older sibling to assist him do his homework.

When Eveline gave birth to her last bon, Ruth now two years old, the same unfortunate fate befell the newborn pitting the family even deeper in despair since they neither had the knowledge nor the means to seek medical attention, and so they have been living with this “unknown problem” that affected three out of the family of five.

 It was not until Dominic Ochieng, who is the project coordinator at Ruma Women Development (RWD) CBO based at Aram in Rarieda got wind of the family’s situation that a visit to assess the condition informed him on what has been causing Otieno’s family suffering for such a long time.

Through outreaches and sanitization programmes On Eye Health in collaboration with community health promoters and community eye care ambassadors, Dominic Ochieng identified that the eye condition that has plagued Eveline and her two children as cataracts, a medical condition in which the lens of the eye becomes progressively opaque resulting in blurred vision.

According to Dominic, the family’s case was unique and warranted intervention because cataract is normally age related and mostly presents in advanced ages.

 “It is not common to come across cataract in children especially at the ages of two and seven unless caused by injuries which is not the case with this family, but there are cases where young ones are diagnosed with ‘chiero’ (cataract)” he said.

Dominic through RWD reached out to The Fred Hollows Foundation, an independent, not-for-profit, international development organization working in more than 25 countries to help create sustainable systems of care in the communities and support advocacy to improve eye health.

It is through the foundation that Boniface Otieno’s family received help in the form of medical aid for surgeries for Eveline and her two children at Sabatia Mission Hospital.

“In nine out of ten cases, blindness and vision impairment cases can be avoided when identified and treated early, but it all starts with educating the people and the community at large. We can drastically reduce the chances of someone going blind if they have the right eye health knowledge, and get tested regularly by an ophthalmologist at an eye clinic or hospital” said Mark Adams Maina the Global Communications Coordinator for Fred Hollows Foundation.

Eveline and her two children, Ruth and Vin expressed their immense joy and gratitude after they were successfully operated on at Sabatia Eye Hospital to cure their cataracts courtesy of Fred Hollows Foundation and are scheduled for a second surgery on November 7, 2023.  

Courtesy; KNA