Hi, my name is Sara Brenes, my friends call me Sarita. I'm a 20-year-old Nicaraguan girl and I love to draw. Two years ago I dropped out of college where I was studying engineering to move to Florida hoping to work but at the moment I'm unemployed.

I was born with a condition called Palpebral ptosis, there's a lot of causes but for me it means that I was born without the nerve that you open and close your eyes. When I was born, my eyes where shut for a week until I learned to open them by lifting my eyebrows. I got surgery for this when I was 3 years old but because of limitations with technology (since the surgery is so small), they told my parents I would need a second surgery at thirteen years old, but when the time came, I couldn't afford it. I tried again when I was 18 but public health wouldn't cover it, they said that it was an aesthetic surgery because my vision wasn't fully compromised "yet".

The way the surgery works, as it was explained to me by three different doctors now, is they install some threads between my eyelids and by eyebrows to help those muscles do the work of opening my eyes. Right now, I still have the threads they put in when I was three, and since I've basically grown out of them, there's a risk of them snapping and leaving me blind.

So when I got health insurance here, I got the reference for an ophthalmologist and I made the appointment with the only doctor who did that surgery in my area. He ran the necessary tests and determined that I did need it, that insurance would most likely cover it; but the insurance said no, that my condition is an exception to the plan and I would have to pay full price.

At the clinic they quoted me a $4000 cost for the surgery, and that it needed to be cancelled before my appointment on December 18th. I'm unemployed, I'm the daughter of a single mom who only works part time and my dad passed away from cancer when I was a kid. This might be my only opportunity to get this surgery and I would really, really appreciate your help, even the smallest amount adds up.

Best wishes to you all, I hope you have a great day.