Operation gives baby gift of sight

LITTLE Dane-Lize Lombard was on Monday given not only the gift of sight, but the joy to play with her toys too.

The six-month-old went under the knife for the second time to remove the cataract from her second eye; the first operation was done on Friday at the Pretoria Eye Institute in Arcadia.

Before surgery on Monday, the baby seemed sprightly for someone who hadn’t had anything to eat for six hours. Her parents, Rejeanne and Pieter Lombard, tried to put her at ease.

Her mother held her tightly while planting a kiss on her forehead, before the ground-breaking process.

And, unlike last week, the Lombards, from Pretoria North, admitted that while they knew what to anticipate, it was a difficult process to take in.

The Star’s sister paper, the Pretoria News, caught up with the elated parents just before the surgery. The mother said they realised their daughter was blind at just two months, after she couldn’t reach for her toys. “I’m very happy to see the results and everything. My daughter will be able to grow and be like other kids and see the colours of life.

“After we came for a follow-up, the doctor had a little light, and she immediately went for the light.”

The operation was made possible by King Pie Trust and the hospital after the parents’ attempts to take out loans yielded no success. The operations cost R70000, which were fully covered by the trust.

Cataract specialist Dr Jacobus Pauw, said it would take time for the child to see perfectly. “Getting used to the new eyes could take months.”