By ARABELLA SERRATA
editor@sbnewspaper.com
Sight Savers America [SSA] recently held an event at the Region One Education Service Center to provide legally blind persons of all ages with life-changing visual aids. 14 children and seven adults across the Rio Grande Valley [RGV] received the visual aids. One of those recipients was a San Benito local, 15-year-old Bruno Enriquez.
The NEWS spoke with Bruno Enriquez’s family about his visual disability and how the situation has changed thanks to SSA. Sonia and Gerardo Enriquez are Bruno Enriquez’s parents, and Luiz Enriquez is his older brother.
According to the family, Bruno Enriquez’s vision changed while he was in the eighth grade. It started as simply blurry vision during his physical education classes. Unfortunately, his vision gradually worsened until he could not see at all. Doctors told his family it was likely genetic.
According to his family, Bruno Enriquez would keep himself in his room. His brother recalled Bruno Enriquez not wanting to eat and refusing to speak to anyone.
“He was depressed,” said Luiz Enriquez. “It was sad because he was losing his vision.”
After receiving the visual aids, Bruno Enriquez has shown improvements in demeanor.
“He can see a little bit more, read a little bit more,” said Luiz Enriquez.
According to the family, this is only the beginning of a long journey. They spoke about how long they have waited to hear back from the hospital they are seeking treatment from for Bruno Enriquez, even after making the necessary payments and completing the paperwork.
Gerardo Enriquez said he has waited “one year and four months” to receive permission to physically go to the hospital and seek further treatment for his son.
The hospital in question is Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, which has a unit dedicated to youth vision. According to their website, they have performed surgeries like Photorefractive keratectomy [PRK].
According to the National Library of Medicine, a PRK is “a laser eye surgery for the correction of visual refractive errors such as myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism”. The website also says the hospital has experts in Craniofacial abnormalities, Glaucoma, Pediatric cataracts and more.
A press release for the SSA event was released, and it provided some background information on the device that was given to the recipients. The device is called the Onyx Video Magnifier [VM]. “These high-tech vision aids will be life-changing, allowing each person to make the most of his or her vision. The devices dramatically enhance contrast and magnify objects up to 118 times,” stated the release.
According to the release, the device is not covered by any medical insurance. They can range in cost from $987 to $3,095. The Valley Baptist Legacy Foundation, The Raul Tijerina Foundation, Brownsville Foundation for Health and Education, and Vispero, all provided funding to provide these high-tech vision aides.
Sight Savers America will conduct follow-ups and survey the recipients on the impact the device has had on their lives.
For more information from Sight Savers America, call (877) 942-2627, ext. 238, or email them at info@sightsaversamerica.org. For more information on Texas Children’s Hospital, visit their website at Texaschildrens.org.
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