Imagine: your eyesight is so bad that you do not see your hand in front of you, have difficulty walking and cannot leave home without support. You lost your job and your income because of the unfortunate condition. You live in the rural area, and your only chance to get back to normal life is eye surgery at a hospital 135 kilometers away. Many of us would probably give up.
Mrs. Oeur Muy Kear lives with her daughter in the village of Pronak Kampong, a remote place in the north of Cambodia. Eye care services there are extremely limited. Mrs. Muy Kear’s first symptoms began four years ago: she could not see well, and everything looked blurry. She was hypersensitive to sunlight and eventually did not even recognize faces. As a result, she was forced to stop working. She tried to earn money by selling food but could not even do that after a while.
At an eye examination at the clinic, the doctor told Mrs. Oeur Muy Kear that she had a cataract in both eyes. That was bad news for her, and she knew that it was an illness that could result in permanent blindness. Unfortunately, the local clinic could not do anything for her without an ophthalmologist.
As Mrs. Oeur Muy Kear could not afford the traveling costs to the nearest hospital, 135 km away, the only solution for her was to undergo eye surgery closer to her village and free of charge. Eye Care Foundation’s mobile eye care team was there to help. After two weeks, the visual acuity in both eyes had improved enormously. The operation was short and painless. Mrs. Muy Kear was surprised that she was able to see again so quickly: “The fact that I can recognize people’s faces again is what makes me most happy. I can read and move again without help. I keep telling other people that such a simple operation will make a big difference in their lives”.
That is why we ask for your support to help eye patients like Mrs. Muy Kear, who urgently need cataract surgery.