A little over two years ago, my mom’s life was turned upside down while tending to her garden, her pride and joy. A branch came down while she was trimming one of her plants, giving her no time to react, puncturing her right eye and causing life changing damage. Given she was already fully blind in her left eye, the consequences of this accident have been drastic, leaving her with a total of 5% vision across both of her eyes. She went from being a completely independent lady in her garden flat, to needing help and assistance with virtually every aspect of her daily life. The sorts of things we all take for granted - being able to cook for ourselves, being able to answer our own emails and text messages, or being able to go for a walk around the shops, to name but a few. She has had to sell her flat, in order to move into a small bedsit in a retirement village, which has proven to be a much more manageable place for her to live. Throughout all of this she has shown the most incredible level of resilience and fortitude, trying her best to keep positive and optimistic that she will recover her sight. The way in which my mom has made the most of the terrible circumstances she’s had to deal with, has been nothing short of inspirational. She’s truly the strongest person I know.

Over the last two years, she has undergone a total of seven operations to repair damage to her retina, cornea and iris, all of which were affected in the accident. Specialists in Zimbabwe and South Africa have worked tirelessly to do what they can to help improve my mom’s eyesight and give her back some of her independence. My mom has undergone a total of 7 operations in Zimbabwe and South Africa since the horrific accident, none of which have had a massive impact on my mom’s eyesight. Dr Wolff, a renowned retinal surgeon in Johannesburg, South Africa, has since consulted with Dr Höllhumer, a corneal specialist, in order to find a way forward.

The doctors in Johannesburg have put forward two proposals - Option 1, whereby they essentially swap my mom’s cornea from her left eye (which she cannot see out of), replacing the damaged one in her left eye, or Option 2, whereby a donor cornea is used instead. Option 2 is the preferred direction we would like to go in. As you can imagine though, both of these options come at a significant cost.

The logistics of a cornea transplant too adds an additional level of complexity to this. In order to proceed with Option 2, a donor cornea needs to be requested and ordered, which can take anywhere between 1 and 6 weeks, sometimes longer depending on availability. However, once we have confirmation that a suitable donor cornea has been found, my mom will need to make the necessary travel and accommodation arrangements immediately, as she’ll need to fly down to South Africa within 1 to 5 days in order to undergo surgery. Post surgery, she will need to remain in Johannesburg for at least 2 weeks, in order for the doctors to monitor my mom’s eye, as there is a chance that this donor cornea may be rejected.

The total cost, covering the procuring of the donor cornea and the transplant surgery, including hospital fees, doctor’s fees and anaesthetists is estimated at over R200 000. This amount does not include the cost of flights, accommodation, carers and subsequent doctors visits post surgery.

We would be immensely grateful for any amount, no matter how small, to go towards helping my mom not only see again, but regain her independence. No one deserves to have gone through what she has had to endure these past two years, and we hope that this is the final hurdle she has to overcome.