A CHRISTMAS, BIRTHDAY AND NEW YEAR PRESENT ALL IN ONE
PLEASE HELP GIVE a near 12-year-old a chance to see a little.
OCHO RIOS, St Ann; Dec 21, 2024
This is our appeal, from the North Coast Times, for you to help Aaliya Johnson save her sight in one of her eyes. (Everyone of you can help). This 11-year-old who can hardly see just wants a chance of seeing a little as her birthday, Christmas and New Year’s present all in one.
Right now she can barely see and because she is not in a school for children with sight impairment or special education school it is very hard for Aaliya.
So here is what we know, from the guidance counsellor at her school.
Aaliya Johnson is a loving, helpful, jovial person who has an interest in playing the drums. She is from the community of Devon, St Ann, and attends the Lime Tree Garden Primary and Infant School which is 20 minutes from Brown’s Town in the parish.
Aaliyah was born prematurely and the retina was not properly closed. As a result at two months old, she did surgery at the Bustamante Hospital for Children. She was transferred to the University Hospital of the West Indies to do a second surgery but that procedure was not done due, reportedly, to machinery malfunction.
In 2013, surgery was done and a buckle was put in her left eye to hold the retina, then it was removed.
In her right eye, the retina is detached and her mother has been told that surgery now would have only a 50/50 chance or success/failure.
Aaliyah’s mother has been trying to get her to see more than the “little light” that’s visible to her now.
(Aaliya ready for school even though she can’t see much)
Her mother has been making all the efforts she can. Aaliya was registered at the Salvation Army School for the Blind in Kingston but had to be removed because of the emotional issues caused by her sight issues and being away from her family.
She is now at Lime Tree Garden Primary School. She has repeated Grade Five because she cannot see and follow the lessons, despite the help she gets from the teachers and her classmates.
The school has now been able to get the Ministry of Education to appoint her mother as a ‘shadow’ – a system of one-on-one help offered in educational institutions for people with disabilities. So her mother can take her to the bathroom, walk around the school with her and so on.
Now she has a cataract in her left eye and needs help to do the surgery which costs over $500,000. Her mother Colette Codner says the surgery is to be done privately.
Please help Aaliyah to have a happy birthday on December 30 when she will be 12. Give Aaliya a New Year to remember by helping to save her left eye before it is too late.
You can donate to her mother’s account
NAME: Colette Codner
Account number:
714 217 461
Type: Savings Account
Branch: Brown’s Town (NCB)
Remember even $100 can help toward that $500,000
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