Meet Seam, a 58-year-old woman from Cambodia with one son, six daughters, and eight grandchildren. She is a rice farmer, and in her free time enjoys working around the home and visiting the pagoda to listen to the monks pray. She is a patient with our medical partner, Children’s Surgical Centre (CSC).
“Seam developed a cataract in each eye 6 months ago. This causes her to be partially blind and experience some pain, irritation, tearing, and cloudy lenses. She can’t see everything clearly, do work well, or go anywhere outside on her own,” explains CSC.
Cataracts occur when the lens inside the eye becomes cloudy, which causes decreased vision and functional blindness. In Cambodia, 90% of blindness could be avoided through proper treatment. As with many countries in the developing world, surgical services are inadequate and cataracts remain the leading cause of blindness globally. Even where surgical services are available, barriers to surgery remain such as cost, shortage of human resources, poor infrastructure, and limited awareness about access to available services.
$225 funds cataract surgery that will remove the cloudy lenses from both of her eyes and replace them with artificial lenses. Funding for her surgery includes post-operative care, and after the surgery, she will be able to see clearly again.