One Terrible Mistake Reversed by Operation Blessing!

One-year-old Elisa was learning to walk when she accidentally fell while holding a pencil.  It pierced her left eye causing a traumatic cataract to form.  Elisa lives with her mother and brother in Guatemala.      

Her mom, Cristina, feared the worst.  “I thought she was going to go blind.” 

She took Elisa to a local clinic, which failed to diagnose the problem and sent them home.  Within a short time, Cristina knew something was wrong with her daughter’s vision.  

“I told my daughter to go pick up her socks, but she couldn’t find them. I could tell she had trouble seeing.”

This time, Cristina took Elisa to the hospital.  There the doctor diagnosed the traumatic cataract and told her mother the baby needed surgery or she would lose her sight. 

“At that moment I panicked,” Cristina told us.     

Elisa’s older brother, Axel, blamed himself for the accident because it was one of his pencils that the toddler had found.   

“I thought she would have to live her whole life with only one eye,” he confided to us.  “I hugged her and said to myself that she should not have to go through this.”  

Cristina’s work is weaving and selling traditional clothes, but the money she earns is not enough for her daughter’s surgery. 

Axel wanted to help.  “I thought about going out to work to earn money and help my mom with the cost of surgery.” 

When Operation Blessing heard about Elisa, we paid for the emergency surgery needed to repair the traumatic cataract. The surgery was successful! 

Cristina is thrilled for her daughter and ever-grateful to Operation Blessing.  

“Now she can see and play with her toys, and she can put on her shoes by herself.  Elisa also can find her clothes alone.  Thank you to the people who paid for her to receive surgery.  I thank you with all my heart!”