Hi, my name is Mary, and this is the first time I have ever asked for any help from family, friends, or anyone else, but desperate times call for desperate measures. A little background about my situation: I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and stage 2 breast cancer 3 years ago. I have fought that battle with strength and dignity. Thankfully, I am in remission and thankful to God for this. I stayed positive and hopeful throughout this ordeal and have come out on the other side stronger than when I started this journey. Now, I have been presented with another challenge in my life.

I have worn glasses since I was 1 year old with a diagnosis of borderline glaucoma with astigmatism in both eyes. I recently started having serious issues with my eyesight, including blurriness, cloudy vision, loss of vision, and being unable to see in low lighting/brightness. After much procrastination, I went in to see an ophthalmologist. They ran many tests on both my eyes and finally told me that I have an aggressive form of glaucoma and would need eye surgery. I had already lost significant vision in my right eye, which they could not recover. This obviously is heartbreaking to hear regardless of how young or old you are. I have been placed on 3 different eye drops daily to control the pressure in my eyes to prevent any further loss of vision. I was eventually referred to another ophthalmologist specialist who would be performing my surgery. They ran more extensive tests and concluded that not only did I have aggressive glaucoma, but I had cataracts in both eyes, which is not common in someone my age.

I was informed that I will need to have aqueous shunt surgery and cataract surgery as well in both eyes. For those of you who do not know, "aqueous shunt surgery" is where they place a tube in your eye to drain the fluid in the back of your eye to release the pressure. At the same time, they will be doing cataract surgery and placing a Toric lens in place of the damaged lens. They will do each eye on different dates to monitor and prevent any potential issues and/or infection, with the first surgery scheduled for November 11th and the second surgery scheduled for November 25th. I will be out from work for at least 3 weeks, if not more, depending on my recovery.

I only have 5 days of PTO left for this year and am struggling to figure out how to juggle all of this and pay for the cost of the surgeries and time lost from work. Many people might say to postpone the surgery; however, this is not an option as the longer I put this surgery off, the more vision I will lose. This is not something that can be recovered once it is lost.

Unfortunately, my insurance does not cover the lenses that they will need to implant into both my eyes as they are for astigmatism (which will give me the best possible outcome to see clearly). I have tried to qualify for some form of financial assistance; however, they do not have a private assistance program available. The only option I had for assistance was through Care Credit, which I unfortunately did not qualify for due to credit issues.

I am trying my hardest to be strong and positive, but after the last 3 years of trials and tribulations, I feel somewhat defeated. I only ask that you put yourself in my shoes and consider the lengths you would go to see your child/children grow up and have their own families and another beautiful day of sight.

I appreciate and am grateful for each and every donation and share that you give me. I will continue to update as my journey goes forward. With God's will and love, I will also overcome this challenge. God bless you all.

Mary Mitchell