ORBIS EyeReport 7 - Meet Esther in Uganda - 2010

五歲的Esther長得十分可愛，臉上常常掛著燦爛笑容，溫暖了奧比斯眼科飛機醫院上的每一位團隊成員及眼疾患者。

從她的笑容，你很難猜得到她在兩歲的時候已成為孤兒，只跟祖母相依爲命。無奈祖母體弱多病，不能好好照顧孫女。最後Esther只能交由她的姨媽撫養，由於Esther年­紀尚小，對自己的親生母親並未留下任何印象，甚至以為姨媽就是自己的母親。

來自印地安那大學醫學院的奧比斯志願醫療團隊成員Dr.Dan Neely解釋說：「由於眼球的內直肌令瞳孔貼近身體的中直線，因而導致Esther出現內斜視的問題。」Esther的內直肌，使她的眼睛不能直視，也嚴重影響了她的眼­部發展。

根據世界衛生組織的排名，烏干達是世界醫療水平最落後的國家之一，約有50萬人患有白內障或角膜瘢痕(corneal scarring)。由於診所Pediatric strabismus) 對2008年的奧比斯眼科飛機醫院項目提供了很大的幫助，這次的旅程我們也特別把這家診所列入項目範圍內，給像Esther這樣的小朋友一個能讓眼部正常發展的機會，同時­提供一個讓當地醫生學習將來治療眼疾患者的地方。

讓我們一起看看Esther的治療過程及手術后的康復情況！

Meet Esther, a 5-year-old little girl who dazzled our hearts and brought a smile to the Flying Eye Hospital, touching each and every person she encountered from our staff to our local doctor participants to our volunteer faculty and the other patients her smile and personality was infectious.

With a smile and personality as such, you would never guess that she was orphaned at the age of 2 and was left with her grandmother. Falling ill, her grandmother could not care for her, which is when she went to live with her maternal aunt I distinguish maternal aunt because Esther calls her aunt Mommy being too young to retain any memories of her natural mother and thinking that her aunt is her mom.

As volunteer faculty member, Dr. Dan Neely of Indiana University School of Medicine, explains Esthers eyes were severely crossed because of the medial rectus the muscle in the orbit of the eye that keeps the pupil closer to the midline of the body. For Esther, this muscle prevented her eyes from proper alignment and, as a result, hindered her eyes from normal development.

Ugandas healthcare performance is ranked as one of the worst in the world according to the World Heath Organization and has approximately half a million blind people in its country mostly due to cataract and corneal scarring. Pediatric strabismus was a clinic greatly appreciated and valued during the last Flying Eye Hospital program in 2008, which is why ORBIS has included this clinic in both weeks of program, giving children like Esther the opportunity for normal eye development and for the local doctors to attain the skills to treat more patients like Esther in the near future.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• 奧比斯
• 飛機醫院
• 失明
• 烏干達
• 斜視