Vision is a beautiful little girl living in a rural village in the Vhembe district (Venda). The closest town is Thohoyandu in the Limpopo Province. Ironically, Vison has little vision as she was diagnosed with Bilateral Retinoblastoma in April 2016, at the age of 17 months.
On admission in Polokwane Hospital, Vision had a total loss of vision. The assessment by CT-scan and the ophthalmologists revealed that she had tumour in the left eye with retinal detachment. In the right eye, the tumour was in the posterior chamber blocking all light to reach the optic disc. Hence, Vision was blind. After receiving 4 courses of chemotherapy, she was referred to ophthalmology, for assessment. At that point, Vision had recovered a little vision in the right eye. The repeat CT scan and an examination under anaesthesia (UEA) by the ophthalmologist showed persistent retinal detachment in the left eye with complete loss of sight despite the reduction in the tumour size and in the right eye, the tumour had decreased in size. Vision’s short-term prognosis was poor, since from both sides the disease could spread to the brain.
Her only hope was to travel monthly to Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town for specialized treatment. The family was worried, how will they afford the costs of traveling to Cape Town every month? The doctors told them about Wings & Wishes and we started transporting Vision and her mom in November 2016. Since then, the family travelled with us 63 times!
It is a very long and tiring 12-hour journey for Vision! They start the morning at 06:00 taking public transport from their village to Thohoyandu to catch the Greyhound bus to Johannesburg. On arrival at Johannesburg Park Station the transfer company picks them up and take them to OR Tambo for their flight to Cape Town. On arrival at Cape Town International Airport, the transfer company will meet them and take them to Groote Schuur Hospital, they will arrive in the ward at 18:00! After 2 days of treatment the family makes the long journey home.
Hertz has assisted us with 17 transfers thus far!
Vision is now 5-year-old, full of life, and still has some vision preserved in the right eye. The doctors and Vision’s family are very grateful to WING AND WISHES and our donors for helping, not only preserving Vision ‘sight, but also saving her life.
