Jazmyns Journey

Jazmyn was born on the 15th October 2019, 7.5 weeks premature with a rare eye condition affecting her right eye known to be Persistent Hyperplastic Primary Vitreous (PHPV): a rare congenital development malformation of the eye. At 6 weeks of age she was assessed by the Royal Childrens Hospital, Melbourne as having a congenital cataract on the right eye which would require surgery to remove once she reached 8 weeks of age. Her surgery was deferred and by the time they went to operate the cataract had become so plaqued to the back of the eye that her surgery was unsuccessful and during the procedure her retina was partially torn from her eye, deeming her legally blind in her right eye. Jazmyn had two emergency surgeries at the Royal Childrens in 2023 due to an extreme build up of eye pressure in her eye, resulting in extreme head aches, pain, nausea and vomiting. Surgical holes were placed around the eye to drain the pressure. This resulted in a haemorrhage in the right eye which made her sensitive to light/sunlight, unable to go outside for 6 months, watch too much tv or ipad and she missed a whole year at kindergarten recovering.

In 2024 she was able to return to kindergarten however her confidence has been a major issue as her right eye remains severely disfigured, shrunk and she has been exposed to awful bullying by other children because of her obvious permanent physical disability. Her facial bones have somewhat collapsed with the dying of her eye which will worsen over time unless she has surgery. She was told she probably would not be able to play ball sports, ride a pony, or anything that is restricted by her peripheral vision limitations. Jazmyn has developed pain daily in the right eye, often red, swollen and inflamed. Some days it will ooze a whitish liquid and is irritated and inflamed by environmental conditions such as heat/dust. She has recently attended a medical apt with a private oto-plastic surgeon in Melbourne: Dr Thomas Hardy and the prognosis is that she will never be able to regain any sight in the right eye and it needs to be removed and replaced with a prosthetic eye. Unfortunately the surgery can only be done through the St Vincents Private hospital Melbourne and the cost has been estimated at $10k which just covers the surgery and the new Prosthetic eye replacement. She will require monitoring and ongoing care for the rest of her life. The sooner her operation, the better for Jazmyn as it will bring an end to the ongoing daily discomfort and pain she lives with so very bravely. Finances are very tight for the family due to serious health conditions on both mum and dads side over the passed couple of years so they would be overwhelmed with gratitude if people could make any donations towards the cost of Jazmyn’s surgery to make it happen and give this little girl a better quality of life.

Supported by, Mt Bolton Lions Club