Notes from the field: An end to isolation for a young mother

When I first met Mary*, she told me how she had been blind since 2012. She had started losing her vision when she was very young – when she was a new bride and expecting her first child. Living in a rural area, far from any hospitals, she went to a traditional healer for help but continued to lose her sight. People whispered that she must have been doing witchcraft that backfired on her… asking what else could explain blindness in someone so young. Believing the witchcraft rumours, Mary’s husband left her before the baby was born. Her family abandoned her too. The only person who helped Mary was her niece, who has been supporting her and her child all this time.

When the niece heard that Operation Eyesight was offering free eye exams, she brought Mary to a surgical camp we were hosting. After all her years of alienation, Mary had little confidence in getting her sight restored, but she agreed to a checkup in hopes that it would reduce the eye pain she was experiencing. The team diagnosed her with bilateral cataracts and recommended surgery, which she agreed to.

I went to check on her in hospital shortly after her bandages came off. I was initially disappointed because she kept saying, “No, I can’t see you. I can’t see anything.” Worried something had gone wrong with the operation, I called her over to see the doctor, when she finally said, “Actually… I can see you, but I’ve been blind for so long, I thought I was imagining you! I’ve been able to see you the whole time.”

She erupted into laughter, then tears. Her niece joined in.

We escorted her home by public bus, and the whole time she was pointing and smiling at things she saw rushing by through the window. She said her greatest excitement was seeing the face of her daughter – now 12 years-old – as soon as she got home.

*name has been changed to protect the patient’s privacy