She could never have imagined that all that was about to change. Her beautiful world came crashing down after she discovered an injury in one of her eyes, which clouded her vision. She considered it as something minor and chose to ignore it. However, as time passed, her eyes started to hurt intensely. Within a short period, she started having blurred vision, and then she lost her eyesight.
That was how the days of woe started for Lal Maya. Her husband married another woman and Lal Maya moved into her daughter's house in Jhule-3. After losing her eyesight, she had no choice but to answer nature's call wherever she happened to be sitting. No one would help her and she painfully recalls being neglected.
But her life is now taking a new turn again. Physicians from Kathmandu have visited the village under an Eye Campaign. After visiting the campaign, she discovered that she was suffering from cataract, which can be treated through surgery. After successful surgery on Tuesday, she got back her eyesight. It made her cry in joy. "I was awaiting death, but now I'll spend the rest of my life in happiness", said Lal Maya.
Lal Maya was carried to the camp in a basket by family and neighbors. She was able to return home alone without any aid. According to physicians at the camp, her cataract had reached the final stages. "Had the surgery not been performed within two months, she would have had no hope of regaining her sight", said Dr Kalyan Dungel at the eye camp.
"I had thought that I would never be able to see the world again. Thank god I can now see everything, I can see the face of my grandchildren," Lal Maya cried in excitement.
The one-day eye camp was run by Nepal Eye Hospital with the support of the Nepal-Turkey Foundation. And Lal Maya was just one of dozens of senior citizens to get a new life through eye treatment.
According to Rekh Bahadur Adkhikari of the Tarun Dal in the district, several of the patients had stopped seeing for between three to 14 years. "Those who have no eyesight problem cannot even imagine the dark world of those who cannot see. The elderly people were so overwhelmed that they treated the doctors like gods," he said. There are thousands in Nepal needing such services, he added.
According to Mamata Regmi, director of the foundation, as many as 470 people showed up for eye treatment at the camp, including 210 males and 260 females. According to Jaya Ram Shrestha, chairman of Tarun Dal, Dolakha, 60 cataract surgeries were performed at the camp. Regmi said that they have been running the eye camp in various parts of the country.
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