Robert’s new glass eye
I am Robert’s grandma, and I would like to raise money to help pay for expenses related to Robert’s prosthetic eye. Now 13, Robert is our family’s miracle baby.
Robert and his brother Sean were born at 26-weeks gestation due to complications with a twin-to-twin transfusion. Throughout my daughter’s pregnancy, Robert was smaller and never expected to live. He was a mere 450 grams at birth and Sean was 2 lbs. Sadly, Sean passed at five days old. Robert continued to fight, but the excessive oxygen required to keep him alive left him legally blind in his left eye. At ten days, Robert survived heart surgery to repair a heart murmur. He then had two laser eye operations and a retina reattachment surgery at four and eight months old. Robert has had a total of thirteen surgeries thus far and yet, he remains a strong young man with an amazing sense of humor. He is witty and loves to make people laugh, and he enjoys helping me bake when he is visiting. He works hard to adapt and is an active young boy, despite his limitations. Turns out Robert excels at coding, so we will be encouraging his continuing with electronics.
Unfortunately, on July 22, Robert sustained a serious eye injury to his left eye when wrestling on the trampoline with his brother. His eye filled with blood and he required immediate surgery that eased the injury; however, his eye continues to hemorrhage. His mother has been driving Robert over 1.5 hours from their home to the closet ophthalmologist two-to-three times a week, and Robert has been forced to lay still while receiving anywhere between five to thirteen eye drops a day. The hemorrhaging simply will not stop, and a recent trip to the specialist at BC Children’s Hospital determined that the eye will need to be removed immediately. Robert will spend six weeks with his eye sown shut before the prosthetic eye can be fitted for his eye. There will be several trips required over the winter months both to the ophthalmologist in Courtney and BC Children’s Hospital, and Robert’s family will require support as only some of the costs will be covered.
Robert has four siblings and his young parents work hard to maintain a farm while homeschooling the children and surviving life in COVID times.
As a grandmother, I worry about their trips from Sayward, BC to Vancouver, BC without assuring their vehicle is winterized and I want to ensure that Robert receives the best possible care and the best possible prosthetic eyeball with as little stress as possible to either him or his family.
