When Donna brought her sister, Kelly, to live with her, she was in a bad state. A victim of neglect and abuse by her caretakers, Kelly was malnourished, blind, and suffering from both untreated diabetes and a mental health illness.
With Donna’s care and attention, plus Kelly’s innate resilience, Kelly got healthy and stable. Medication, diet, and exercise brought her conditions under control. But one thing Donna couldn’t fix was Kelly’s blindness. So, she found someone who could. She brought Kelly to UVA Health for cataract surgery.
Donna picks up the story from there.
Kelly’s Cataract Surgery, in Her Sister’s Words
We scheduled Kelly’s surgery for November 12, 2024. Since we lived out of town, Kelly and I usually stayed up there. This day was no different. We had a special “sister” swim day and anticipated our journey together. Kelly didn’t seem nervous at all. I, on the other hand, was a wreck.
She went into surgery and, within a very short amount of time, they told me she was in recovery and we wouldn’t know much more until the follow-up.
Cataract Surgery Brings Renewed Hope
On November 13th at 10:15 a.m., we walked into Dr. Jun’s office, Kelly with a patch on her eye. We walked to the back, and when they took the patch off her eye and asked her to read the chart, my heart exploded. She could see the chart. Not perfect, but that was ok…she still had some swelling and bruising, but she could see! As we left the hospital that day, I recorded a moment in history that will forever be a special part of our journey. We went back to the hotel and she was eager to read and play solitaire on her iPad.
Thriving After Surgery
Today, Kelly is a rock star. She is thriving in her environment. She loves to do her hook rug, watch Little House on the Prairie, and color (inside the lines). Kelly made Dr. Jun a sand art unicorn. Unicorns are protective spiritual beings that bring healing energy. In my opinion, Dr. Jun is a true angel who not only helps little souls like Kelly, but his scope ranges wide, helping others on their journey.
Donna: There’s 5 years difference between Kelly and I. She was 1 pound, 14 ounces when she was born. When she would walk into a room, the room would light up. She’s truly a joy to have around. So when she turned 18, she moved out to Colorado, up into the mountains. And we kind of just went on with our lives.
They didn’t know how to deal with her out in Colorado. They really didn’t. When she came to live with me in January of 2022, she was malnourished at that point, and she had lost her sight about three years before that.
Dr Jun: So Kelly came in with a very difficult eye condition. She was completely blind in one eye: she could not walk around, she could not feed herself. She really couldn’t see anything other than just the presence or absence of light. We could not see in her eye to do a full eye exam, so we had to use specialized ultrasound techniques to measure the size of the cataract, to measure the size of her eye, just to know that the dimensions would even make sense for us to attempt a particular surgical approach. So I had to actually think of different ways of approaching this issue from a surgical standpoint. I spent, actually, a pretty good amount of time devising 3 different plans, and so we were, I think, prepared for every contingency.
Donna: So he did the surgery on November 12th. November 13th, we had our follow-up. And she went into the office, and they took the eye patch off her eye, and she started reading the chart.
Kelly: I never thought I could see again, but I did.
Donna: And how did that feel?
Kelly: It felt so good that I could walk right out of the office.
Donna: I went to grab her hand, because I’ve been doing this now for two years, and she just took off. And she’s walking in front of me and I’m like, “Where are you going?” Like watching your kid walk for the first time, you know?
Kelly: I can read, write, grow trees, like to watch TV, Little House on the Prairie, I love that.
Donna: You know, some people say, “Oh, the future is bright.” But for Kelly, it truly is. Kelly can see. With the right tools, the right doctors, the right medicine, the right environment, people can thrive. And Kelly is a walking, talking miracle.