Twelve-year-old Paula Ann Cottom will lose her sight completely, unless she is able to raise some US$2,000 for an operation.
Paula was seven years old when she started wearing spectacles because of poor eyesight. Her visually impaired father Paul Cottom said that four years later, he was called to his daughter’s school because she was experiencing severe eye pain.
Visits to doctors revealed that Paula was suffering from complicated cataract, which later resulted in her going blind in the right eye.
Recently, she was diagnosed with inferior retinal detachment and macular involvement with development cataract in her left eye. Paula has already undergone two eye surgeries, and is now seeking the general public to assist her in completing her third eye surgery in the hope of salvaging the sight in her left eye.
A quotation from Dr Ronnie Bhola, vitreo-retinal surgeon of the Caribbean Eye Institute in Trinidad and Tobago lists the cost of the surgery to remove silicone oil from Paula’s eye as TT$13,000 or US$2,000. However, Paul and her father will need additional funds for meals and accommodation during their stay in T&T.
Cottom is now calling on the general public to help his daughter by assisting him financially.
“I want to thank the public, thank God and thank everyone who helped contribute to my daughter previous surgeries. The doctor didn’t tell me that the surgery would be a three-part thing,” he said.
Persons desirous of donating can call 617-8471/692-5223 or deposit funds in Republic Bank account #4065.
