A Vancouver woman who lost her eye this past Halloween when she was hit with a firecracker is turning her pain into passion to help a non-profit organization restore vision for people in developing countries.
Lesley Kim was walking to a party in Vancouver’s Gastown area when she was hit in the eye with a fire cracker.
“Someone behind us decided to launch a bottle rocket firecracker and I happened to turn around at the exact moment,” she said. “The bottle rocket landed in my left eye and proceeded to go underneath my eyelid and it exploded.”
As shock set in, Kim said she tried to stay calm and breathe.
“I knew right away that my eye was most likely done for,” she said. “The immediate response of paramedics, nurses and doctors was overwhelming. Ironically, it would be the loss of my eye that would teach me the true meaning of gratitude and community.”
The incident resulted in the enucleation of Kim’s eye, which means she lost her eye, but retained the nerves around it.
It was an outcome Kim calls “the best possible scenario,” considering she could have suffered brain damage or loss of vision in her other eye.
As she recovered at home, Kim was overwhelmed by the support she received from friends and family around the world.
“I felt that all the attention I was receiving should be put toward a greater cause. So I searched on the internet and found Seva Canada,” she said.
Seva Canada is a Vancouver-based non-profit organization that works to provide eye care to people in developing countries in need of sight restoration and blindness prevention.
Kim said she was shocked to discover that it only costs $50 for a fifteen-minute cataract surgery to restore vision.
“There are certain things you don’t pay attention to unless it hits home. They work in developing countries all over the world. For us in Canada we are so lucky to have access to medical aid,” she said.
“In these developing countries, especially as women, if you are blind and can’t see you are denied education, you’re denied employment and if your family can’t take care of you, more than likely you end up on the street. To me, $50 to change that person’s life and give them an opportunity to have one, is unbelievable.”
Kim is organizing a fundraiser, aptly named Spectacle, on Jan. 31 to raise money and awareness for Seva.
“Appreciation does not begin to describe my feelings for all of those who have reached out in support of my accident and the Spectacle gala will give us all a chance to give back” Kim said.
“I lost my eye, but I’ve gained a lot of other things as well. Learning the true meaning of appreciation has been the biggest lesson.”
For more information on the event and how to donate visit the Spectacle website.
With files from Rumina Daya
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