Cataract Chronicles-25 years
As I celebrate my 25th year volunteering as an eye surgeon in Southeast Asia. I am delighted to share photos and stories about the vision challenges and the people and cultures of India, Nepal, Cambodia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Vietnam. - Dr. Gary Barth
Chronicle 34 - Heroes Were Created: Carrying Their Blind Grandfather for 3 Hours
One of my favorite photo series shows both the dramatic change in a man who was blind for years and the creation of two heroes that the family will forever admire.
In the Nepal Himalayan foothills, radio public service announcements encouraged individuals blinded by cataracts to attend a free two-day cataract surgery camp based in a primary school yard and classrooms.
I first encountered the blind grandfather, watching him sightlessly grope toward the surgery bed in a room of a house. His uneventful cataract surgery took four minutes.
The third and fourth pictures show his grandsons giving him an eye test and then happily smiling when they realized he could see! (I’ll inject myself into this story by saying that the grandson’s smile is my favorite picture of the hundreds I have taken at eye camps in Nepal, Cambodia, Nepal, Vietnam, and Myanmar).
The final gratifying picture shows the patient, no longer needing to be carried, as he walked home.
Vision restoration is about much more than just for the individual with the cataract.
The grandsons will be heroes in their family when they arrive home with a sighted and independent family member who can resume his productive place in the household.
