Nuwan whose plight we highlighted then, now may lose his vision
View(s):
Nuwan with his wife and son
His saga has not ended.
Remember W.A. Nuwan Prasad whom generous readers of the Sunday Times helped to retain the little sight in his left eye.
There has been trouble again and by the skin of his teeth he has been able to get his eye attended to.
Let’s jog our memories – the Sunday Times met him in August 2016 in his humble home in Udupila South, Delgoda, and the tragedy which assailed him is brought to light as he takes off his dark glasses.
It was as a 22-year-old with beautiful balal as (cat’s eyes) that he faced the jealous rage of his girlfriend who threw acid on him. Blinded he was, but he was able to collect money from here and there and go to the Sankara Nethralaya in Chennai, India, to get some vision back to his left eye. The damage to the right eye was irreparable. (See ‘From darkness to little light, but for how long?’ in the PLUS of August 7, 2016)
At the Sankara Nethralaya, he underwent a relatively new procedure called the Osteo-Odonto Keratoprosthesis (OOKP) or tooth-in-eye surgery. It involved the removal of a canine tooth from Nuwan, shaping and drilling it to allow implantation of a ‘plastic optical cylinder’ (an artificial plastic corneal device), which was then placed into the eye a few months later to restore vision.
However, in recent times, there has been trouble with this eye for Nuwan, with the last episode being the cylinder gradually emerging out of the eye, making his vision blurrier and blurrier with the terrifying reality of complete loss of vision.
Nuwan had to head for Chennai urgently, with just a little cash in hand, begged and borrowed from relatives and friends.
“While there, the cylinder moved from its right spot to another area,” says Nuwan who was then quickly taken for an emergency operation, with the Chennai doctors requesting the hospital management to consider his pathetic plight, while the Chief Monk of the Maha Bodhi temple where Nuwan had sought lodging providing all facilities and food free of charge and a good Samaritan, who helps Sri Lankans seeking medical care at the hospital by volunteering as a translator, also lending a helping hand.
In the most recent treatment, he has undergone Type II Boston keratoprosthesis, Pars Plana Vitrectomy, Endo Laser and Silicone Oil Injection under general anaesthesia, according to a document signed by Dr. Pukhraj Rishi of the Sankara Nethralaya.
Nuwan is desperate, for he needs to go back to Chennai for a check up on November 13 and he simply does not have a cent.
His wife Chandrani struggles to keep the home fires burning, sending their eight-year-old son Anuhas to school, with a neighbour kindly seeing to his educational needs and managing another baby boy that the family has been blessed with who is about 1½ years now.
Although Nuwan was able to do a small job before, now he is unable to do so. He has to lie face downwards, without moving to enable the retina to set in the right place, he says.
The family survives by renting out three rooms and sparingly using the Samurdhi payment of Rs. 3,000 a month and the social service payment for disability of Rs. 3,000 a month that he gets, while his wife struggles to supplement this income by making paper ornaments.
| How you may help | |
| Please help me retain the sight in my left eye, is Nuwan’s urgent plea. Those who wish to give him their mite may send their contributions to Account No. 71434495 at the Bank of Ceylon, Delgoda branch. The Account Name is W.A. Nuwan Prasad. He may be contacted on Mobile: 0771029918. |