Four-year-old needs cornea transplant

It has been an emotional four years for Vanessa Garrick, a mother of two, who has been pulling out all the stops to get her son's eye condition corrected through surgery.

Garrick's son, Jeshawn, was diagnosed with congenital cataract in his right eye when he was eight weeks old. The condition refers to a clouding of the lens of the eye, which, if not corrected, can cause vision problems or blindness.

Young Jeshawn has undergone two surgeries at the Bustamante Hospital for Children to have the cataract removed. The cataract was removed during the first surgery, but, according to his mother, the pupil was scarred and there were complications. A second surgery was performed, and this time scarred tissue started to appear in the child's eye.

Jeshawn was scheduled for a third surgery in 2020, but with the public healthcare system being pressured due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the procedure was never done.

The toddler has been reliant on prescribed eye drops to ease pain, pressure and swelling that he encounters daily. Garrick, though, is determined not to give up in her fight to have her son's eye condition remedied.

"Bustamante sent us over to UHWI (University Hospital of the West Indies) because of the surgery that needs to be done," Garrick said.

"When I took him to UHWI, the consultant there said he was going to send him abroad for the surgery that is to be done. He said based on the complexity of it, that sort of surgery cannot be done in Jamaica, so he referred him to the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada," Garrick said.

She is seeking the public's assistance to raise US $7,000 to assist in airfare, cost of surgery and medications.

"This opportunity that I am getting, is one that I prayed about. It is a cornea transplant and I prayed and said, 'God, if they are going to go back into his eye, I would just really prefer it be done abroad than here in Jamaica'," the St Ann resident shared.

Her desire is for her four-year-old son, who she describes as friendly, pleasant, brilliant and polite, to get a chance at living a normal life.

"There are times when he will say to me that, 'Mommy, that eye is blind' and he knows that something is wrong with him, but he does not fully understand. I don't talk to him about it because it is hard for me to talk to him about it, I get emotional, honestly. It breaks my heart and I worry a lot because my greatest fear is that he may be bullied or not get a fear shot at life. I really don't want him to lose the eye," Garrick said.

Garrick has been trying to raise funds via gofundme (https://gofund.me/5232afb2) to assist in getting medical care for her son.