Lai is a 60-year-old wife, mother, and grandmother from Cambodia who tends to the vegetable garden around her home and goes to the pagoda to hear the monks pray.
Our medical partner, Children’s Surgical Centre (CSC), tells us, “Lai has been diagnosed with glaucoma. She has [also] developed a cataract in her right eye, and she can not see clearly.”
Glaucoma and cataracts are both serious eye conditions that can lead to vision loss. Both conditions are also more common with age, so many people who have one disease may develop the other.
Glaucoma is caused by inadequate fluid drainage from the eye, causing pressure to build inside the eye. The increased pressure damages the eye’s main nerve — the optic nerve — and results in vision loss and eventual blindness. A cataract occurs when there is a buildup of proteins in the lens. This causes the lens to become cloudy, disrupting the passage of light through the lens and impairing vision.
“Lai experiences blurred vision, pain, burning, and tearing,” CSC continues. “She cannot do work very well or go anywhere outside by herself.”
For $300, Lai will undergo two surgical procedures to restore her vision. One procedure will remove the cloudy lens from her right eye and replace it with an artificial one. In a second procedure—known as trabeculectomy—doctors will remove tissue from the eye to create an opening to allow fluid drainage. Funding also includes pre- and post-operative consultations, a two-day hospital stay, and eye drops and ointments.
After surgery, “Lai will be able to see clearly again, and the pressure in her eye will be decreased,” says CSC. Let’s help make that happen!