Cataracts were stealing Mary's sight – and her childhood.

When Mary was nine years old, she felt like the whole world was open to her. She loved going to school – and her family hoped she’d become a doctor or teacher when she grew up.

But by the time she was 10, these dreams were rapidly fading from view. Her life had been devastated by cataracts – putting her sight, and her dreams, at risk. Her vision was now so bad, she struggled to help at home, play with friends or even read at school. She was often teased, at just 10 years old, because she spent most of her time alone. Her parents were devastated to think of her being excluded like this, and Mary’s eyes were only getting worse.

Cataracts don’t just rob children of their sight. They rob them of their chance of an education and childhood too. Sadly, there are many more children like Mary. It’s thought there are more than 1,900 children waiting for cataract surgery in the region where we work in Malawi, out of 5,000 children in need across the country. It’s vital we can reach them if we’re to help them have the bright futures they deserve.

Working with local health teams, we’re doing all we can to provide children with sight-saving surgery – but we can’t do it alone. With your support we can continue to reach those who need our help and deliver more life-changing treatments.

Today, you could help us reach more children like Mary, who desperately need a sight-saving operation.

Mary was living in one of the most remote and deprived areas of Malawi, with severely limited access to medical care. Thankfully, a Sightsavers-trained health worker diagnosed Mary with bilateral cataracts and brought her to the hospital to meet Dr Gerald Msukwa, the only paediatric surgeon in Malawi. Dr Msukwa could see that cataracts were stealing her sight – and threatening her chances for the future. Fortunately, she was able to have surgery, giving her back her sight – and her childhood.

In Malawi, Sightsavers-funded health workers are used to working in communities at risk of infectious diseases, which helps as the country now faces the threat of the coronavirus outbreak. However, with borders closing, programmes are now suspended to ensure everyone’s safety. Dr Msukwa has been working even longer hours to operate on as many patients ahead of the outbreak hitting Malawi, and he wants to resume his work as soon as he can.

We will need your help when services start again, so we can give children with cataracts the treatment they urgently need. The surgery to treat cataracts takes no more than an hour and has the power to restore vision. But the number of surgeries that can be performed is limited, and due to coronavirus will temporarily stop. When programmes are allowed to restart, we will need your help so we can train more eye health workers and provide them with the equipment they need to continue their amazing, life-changing work.