…you can light the way for them to see again.
When children are going blind…
A cancerous eye tumour threatened Sombiniaina’s life
Baby Sombiniaina from Madagascar, off the coast of East Africa, had retinoblastoma, a rare but deadly eye cancer, which often goes unnoticed until it causes irreversible damage. Your love can light the way to save sight and even lives.
Her mother, Rasoloarisoa, knew very early that something was wrong with her baby girl. But she did not know what to do. She told our team, “There was a glint in her eye. In the dark, her eye shone like a cat’s.”
Desperate to get help, she asked everyone in her village, but no one knew why Sombiniaina’s eye was glinting so strangely. Or what to do about it. With each day that passed, Sombiniaina’s eye grew worse.
The need to identify retinoblastoma before the cancer is too advanced is urgent. For children like Sombiniaina, early diagnosis means the difference between life and death.
The doctor told us that my child’s eye has cancer. When I heard the news, I was completely devastated. We worried where we could find money for treatment.
Your love can light the way to save sight and even lives
You can help us deliver quality eye care for children like Sombiniaina living remote and inaccessible communities, and help save the sight and lives of thousands of children like Sombiniaina. This is possible, thanks to a simple but powerful tool called the Arclight (pictured).
An Arclight is a pocket-sized, solar-powered, portable ophthalmoscope, used by eyecare professionals to perform an eye exam and identify children with eye conditions in poor and remote places.
Costing around £32, it can go anywhere and screen anyone. In the hands of just one CBM outreach eye doctor, an Arclight can screen thousands of children’s eyes a year, identifying deadly eye conditions before it is too late.
You can help us identify retinoblastoma before the cancer is too advanced
Rasoloarisoa, feared her daughter might not only lose her sight, but her life too.
When our partner’s outreach eye doctor visited their village with an Arclight in his pocket, he expected to see signs of cataract, one of the more common causes of sight loss we come across.
But what he saw made his heart sink. Using the Arclight, he identified the cancerous tumour in Sombiniaina’s eye, and knew instantly that without urgent eye surgery she would die.
Unfortunately, there is only one life-saving treatment for retinoblastoma… and that is surgery to remove the tumorous eye. This is the reason why Sombiniaina’s left eye looks closed. Our partner’s outreach eye doctor had to remove her eye to save her life.
But because of the early identification and intervention to remove the cancerous eye, Sombiniaina’s life was saved.
This is why we need your support today to identify children with serious eye conditions. To save sight, and lives, before their cancer becomes too advanced for treatment.
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Let your love light the way for children like Sombiniaina.