Youngster to 'have eye removed' after minor fall that caused blindness but NHS waitlist 'over three years' - GoFundMe set up for 'private surgery'

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A little boy is set to have his “eye removed” after a “minor fall” that “caused him to be blind”.

The little boy’s mother, Gemma, is fundraising on GoFundMe hoping to raise £10,000 so the family can “try to go private for this surgery”. She said her little boy, Levi, is “in pain” and is currently on the NHS waitlist which is “over three years” long - adding that he “cannot suffer for that long”.

She wrote on GoFundMe that Levi had an accident one day after having a minor fall where his lens of his eye had dislocated causing him to be blind. She said: “This was not a large fall and certainly nothing that we thought we would have to worry about. We noticed that he started to become quite light sensitive so took him to the opticians that referred us to the hospital where we then got referred to two different hospitals not knowing what the issue was.

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“The hospital that we ended up going to decided the day of his appointment that they would put him under anaesthesia to have a look at his eye closer. He was under for about an hour and a half to two hours when they told us that his lens had dislocated and that it was a bigger problem than what they anticipated and that they would need a specialist to remove it.”

A little boy is set to have his “eye removed” after a “minor fall” that “caused him to be blind”. (Photo: GoFundMe)A little boy is set to have his “eye removed” after a “minor fall” that “caused him to be blind”. (Photo: GoFundMe)
A little boy is set to have his “eye removed” after a “minor fall” that “caused him to be blind”. (Photo: GoFundMe) | GoFundMe

Gemma, 22, who lives in Ayr, Scotland and runs a transport firm, added: “So many months down the line the NHS had removed his lens, which has only caused him pain and discomfort due to pressure build-up in his eye which then meant that that he could not have a prosthetic lens implanted because his eye was so unstable. On 2 August, he had his monthly surgery where they would drain fluid and do a laser treatment on his eye that would relieve pressure.

“But they came out and told us that there was nothing left to his eye, that he had been bleeding into his eye for too long and that it had practically corroded anything they could have saved. So now Levi has to have his eye removed because there is now blood building up in his eye causing more pressure and pain but the NHS waitlist for the removal of his eye is over three years and he cannot suffer for that long”.

Gemma said that the family now want to go private for his surgery which “will in the end change his life for the better” and “he will no longer be in pain and can go about his childhood fairly normally”. She added: “We are not the kind of people to ask for money from strangers, but we are in an impossible situation where we cannot stand to see him in pain anymore.

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“Even if you cannot donate anything at all, we greatly appreciate you even reading about Levi’s story”. As of Monday (16 December) over £6,000 has been raised to help the family.

On 13 December Gemma posted an update saying the family were given a fixed price for Levi’s surgery and “it’s more than what we expected”. She said: “The price for his graft and removal of the eye is £10,257 this is not including his prosthetic eye that he would need roughly six weeks after removal.

“We are feeling really disheartened and a bit shocked by this. But we know the power of the media and still have some hope we love you all so much”.

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