Vision back after 10 years,new year brings ray of hope

“She came to us on December 28 and,after examining the eye,we realised that the ulcer in her eye was active. A corneal grafting was done on her left eye. The happiness on her face was matchless when we removed the tape around her eyes after the operation. From 100 per cent blindness,she has now got 70 per cent of her vision back. She can start cooking and can soon join back her work,” said Dr Madan Deshpande of H V Desai Eye Hospital who conducted the operation free-of-cost for More.

While the doctors did not charge any fee for the surgery,Sandeep,who works in a brick kiln in Bhor village near Pune,had taken a loan of Rs 3,000 from his contractor to take care of the expenses like medicines and travel. Even though out of his daily wage of Rs 150,half will be used to pay off the loan,you can’t put a price on the satisfaction on his face.

More reveals that it was during the 2000 Kharif season when his mother lost the vision in her right eye after a foodgrain got into her eye and this developed into a septic infection. “My father would come and beat my mother everyday. She lost her vision in one eye 10 years ago because we were small and my father did not take the accident seriously. Two years ago,a similar thing happened. But this time,we were grown up and decided to take her to the hospital. My mother can see,we won,God is great,” says More.

In a room adjacent to where Sakhubai was operated upon,Jagannath Shreepati Kapse,a 70-year-old villager from Ahmednagar opened his eyes to sunlight after almost 20 years. Kapse who lost his eyesight in 1990 due to the shocking death of his two eight-year-old sons,has his wife Yashodabai Kapse sitting beside him. “I could just feel her. Today I can see her. She held my hand for the past 20 years when I needed it the most. Today,while getting down the stairs after the discharge,I will hold her hand,” smiles Kapse.