Suharni, Trut and Grace
Suharni, Trut and Grace, Three individuals from three different places who suffer from avoidable blindness because they lack the access to medical resources. By supporting The Fred Hollows Foundation and becoming a monthly donor, you can help us extend our reach to even more people in need.
① Three stories of restored sight – Suharni
“No one should lose their independence to blindness.”
Suharni has always been a caring mother and grandmother. Despite being unable to read or write, she has always worked hard to make ends meet and support her family.
But in the last three years her vision rapidly deteriorated. She could see ‘nothing at all’ and relied on her family to help her with the simplest of tasks.
Fortunately, a nurse trained by The Fred Hollows Foundation had visited and told Suharni about an eye clinic run at the hospital nearby. Suharni was overjoyed to learn she would be able to have surgery to emove her cataract.
It was a dream come true — Suharni could have her sight and independence restored. She would no longer need to rely on her family.
② Three stories of restored sight – TRUT
"We are worried about what will happen when we get older." Trust's parents
Seven-year-old Trut is blind in one eye. She lives in a stilted wooden house with her mother, younger sister and grandparents Bea and Lay. The family work as farm labourers and earn less than HKD$12 a day. Their income is barely enough to support the family of five, let alone pay for Trut’s surgery. One day, a health worker visited the village and told Trut’s mother Thuyen about a free outreach screening camp supported by The Fred Hollows Foundation. Thuyen said she was determined to take Trut to the camp where she was told that The Foundation could support her surgery at Da Nang Eye Hospital, an eight-hour, 300km drive away.
It was a straightforward and simple operation, and just 24 hours later, the doctor removed Trut’s eye patches. Soon, a shy smile appeared on Trut’s face as she looked up at her relieved mother. Dr Ngoc asked her if she could see her fingers and Trut boldly high fived her hand. It was a moment of pure joy.
③ Three stories of restored sight - Grace
③ Three stories of restored sight - Grace
Grace, living in Kenya, was hit in the eye by a rock many years ago, and the trauma caused a blinding cataract in that eye. It left her struggling to provide for her three children.
But the hardest part of her life was knowing that her 7-year-old son Nicholas was blind too. When Grace found out that The Foundation’s generous supporters would not only cover the cost of Nicholas’ surgery but hers as well, she was overjoyed.
They travelled for hours to get to the eye hospital. Grace was anxious, but quietly hopeful, hugging Nicholas close and thanking the people who were making her dream come true.
Both of them had their operation on the same day. The next morning, Grace’s patch was removed first, and she patiently waited for Nicholas’ eyepatch to come off.
Ending avoidable blindness
"One of the great joys of my life is having been part of the training of Sanduk Ruit and his training others." - Fred Hollows
The Founder of The Fred Hollows Foundation, Prof. Fred Hollows believed in empowering people. That’s why we invest in training a range of people from community health workers to surgeons. Building local skills has always, and will always, be at the heart of our work.
Training
Fred believed that training and empowering local people was the key to sustainable change. The Foundation trains doctors, nurses and health care workers so they can recognise, diagnose, refer and treat eye problems in their communities.
Doorstep diagnosis
Community health workers are a vital link between patients and eye health services. Trained by The Foundation, they visit communities, diagnosing a range of medical conditions and referring people to medical clinics, hospitals and doctors. Performing initial consultations like these is essential, because potentially damaging eye health issues are identified before they become critical.
Fred’s passion for teaching
Fred was an advocate of hands on learning. He firmly believed there should always be three people in a room: a teacher, a student and a patient. Whether it was in an operating theatre in Sydney or Hanoi, Fred took great delight in seeing the moment of understanding in his students’ eyes.
The last lesson
Despite being very ill with cancer, Fred discharged himself from hospital in July 1992 to fly to Hanoi. There he wanted to fulfil his promise to train over 300 Vietnamese eye specialists in modern eye surgery techniques.
Together, we can do this
We know how to help, but there’s a lot of work still to be done across the world. Eliminating avoidable blindness can be achieved – with the help of our partners and, most importantly, you, our incredible supporters.
The Fred Hollows Foundation's work will help build the local capacity of eye health in remote areas. Doctors, nurses and community eye care staff can identify, diagnose, refer and treat various eye diseases on time in the community.
The Fred Hollows Foundation believes that a fly-in-fly-out model is not the best way to develop a place’s eye health care. Our aim is to build a sustainable eye health workforce in remote areas to help people have their sight restored.
Thank you very much for your donation! Monthly donation receipts will be mailed to your mailing address every April. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.
