Sana is shy but her smile shines brightly. Her pitch-black hair is decorated with colorful bows. She was born with perfect vision. But, at the age of two she began bumping into furniture. She tripped over toys left on the floor because she could no longer see where her feet were going. Soon, she was unable to recognize faces. Something was clearly wrong.
Sana and her parents visited a nearby hospital in their home state of Uttar Pradesh, but the prescription medication did not help. At the same time, her older sister also began to display signs of vision impairment. It wasn't long before both girls were declared blind by their doctors, likely due to a genetic condition. While Sana's world grew darker, her eyes were able to detect enough light to perceive people's shadows moving about the room. Unfortunately, instead of being a comfort to her, these "black devils" whisking by were a source of terror.
As both girls' vision continued to slip away, their mother and father became increasingly desperate. They could not allow Sana to play outside; she might fall down the well. There was no point in sending her to school because she would become the target of ridicule. She had a few friends, but they had to come to her house to play. If not for the generosity of one of her cousins who came over each day to homeschool Sana, she would never have been able to keep up with her studies.
Sana's parents had neither the financial nor logistical resources to seek treatment in the big city. The local doctors gave them little hope that either daughter could be helped, and if they could not see, who would ever want to marry them? It wasn't until relatives who had settled in Delhi offered them a place to stay that they were able to seek out another medical opinion outside of their village. Sana visited the Guru Nanak Eye Centre where doctors conducted transplants in both eyes.
Sana smiles when she recalls the first time she saw the faces of her mother and her doctor after the bandages were removed. She was so happy. Now she can read, write, and ride a bicycle. She can watch TV and play. But the most significant outcome of Sana's successful surgery is the hope it gives to her family. Sana's passion is learning English so she can become an eye doctor. She wants to help others as she has been helped. Before the surgeries that restored vision her vision, her future was unimaginably bleak.
The gratitude Sana'ss family feels for the donor family, and the sight their gift made possible, has motivated them to become outspoken advocates for cornea donation. They crusade in their small village encouraging others to help cure blindness through corneal donation. As they are fond of saying: "What greater cause is there than giving a stranger a second chance at life?"
Please support people like Sana
SightLife is working hard to help people like Sana and we invite support from people who want to join us to eliminate corneal blindness in India by 2020. All money raised towards our work in India is doubled by a private foundation in America. To make a gift for people like Manoj, or to find our more about our work, please contact James Newell, UK
Development Lead:
[email protected] 0207 566 3635
SightLife UK, c/o Kingston Smith LLP, Devonshire House, 60 Goswell Road, London, EC1M 7AD
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