Improve Vision Health for 1,000 Hondurans

Dear Friends of VHI. Please join VHI in celebrating Mother's Day with a Mother's Day Story.

Portrerillos, Honduras is about an hour and a half from VHI's home base in La Entrada. Navigation to the village required crossing three small streams, one of which forced us to exit the van and walk over a "bridge" that was not, so we were told, up to the task of bearing the weight of a four-wheeled vehicle; the van forded the stream with only minor difficulty.

Seventy-five patients were waiting for us when we arrived in Portrerillos; more would soon follow. And it became immediately apparant that most of the adults and kids in this small and remote village had not received any vision health care.

We set up shop in one of the classrooms at the local school. Patients of all ages filed in, one at a time. Many were provided eyeglasses and sunglasses; a few required more attention. One, a young mother of 23, was diabetic and blind with cataracts. But when asked if she would come to the Manos Amigas clinic in La Entrada for surgery on that Thursday, a look of worry came over her face.

"I can't afford surgery," she said, "and I can't leave my baby." A friend had accompanied the woman, who's name we learned was Reina. The friend advised, "Reina, it won't cost you anything. You can't afford to not have the surgery." Dr. O'Rourke, a mother of two, had examined Reina. The doctor offered, "If you have the surgery, I'll take care of your baby." Reina relented and agreed to have the surgery, though the doctor was spared the babysitting chores.

Senora Reina made it to the clinic for cataract surgery on Thursday, as scheduled, and she was waiting for us when we arrived for post-op rounds on Friday morning. Grandma was taking care of the baby, and Reina's husband, whose grin reminded me of a boy unable to control himself on Christmas morning, sat by her side. Reina did not look happy; she was nervous.

Dr. O'Rourke removed the patch and shield and Dr. Chang, the surgeon and a mother herself, moved closer to examine the patient. Reina blinked a few times and then smiled, an expression we hadn't seen from her in the few days we'd known her. And then came the tears. No sobbing mind you, just enough emotion to let us know that Reina was OK. She had regained her sight. Though we can't be sure, as she never said as much, it's very possible that at that very special moment, this young mother realized that when she returned home later that day, she would be able to see her baby...for the first time.