A $25 Mother's Day card gave sight to one Pacific Islander

Mother’s Day

In New Zealand, the Specsavers stores partnered with the Fred Hollows Foundation NZ (FHFNZ) http://www.hollows.org/ to sell $25 Mothers’ Day gift cards for cataract surgeries to restore the sight of blind Pacific Islanders.

On Tuesday, Specsavers Auckland co-owner and retail director Guy Parbury decided to get involved after hearing about a blind 58 year-old Samoan mother, Mrs. Fetoai Vaipula, who was a shopkeeper until she became blind in both eyes.

“After completely losing her sight, Fetoai was without any means of supporting herself,” Mr Parbury said.

“She was forced to close down her business and move in with her son’s family, where she has been living, frustrated and helpless for three months. She’s a deeply religious woman and couldn’t even get to church.”

After a  20 minute operation, an emotional Fetoai said, “I see the world again and my kids.”

Fred Hollows’ New Zealand Marketing and Fundraiser Debbie Thompson hopes families will give these gift cards for Mother’s Day.

“Just $25 can help to change someone’s life forever. I couldn’t think of a more wonderful Mother’s Day gift,” Thomson said.

Macular Degeneration

In the central United States, Dr. Lizbeth Ryan treats, and often reverses, blindness due to macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa, and other degenerative eye diseases. Ryan, an economist turned to healing, is a Doctor of Chinese Medicine.   She treats eye diseases with a European form of acupuncture.

Her website, http://macupuncture.com/ ,is quick to point out that “All points are in the hands and feet; no needles are placed in or around the eyes.”

“Many patients get their driver’s licenses back”, Ryan said, “Especially those who have only recently begun loosing their vision.”

People come from all over the world to be treated in her Rogers, Arkansas clinic.

Like Specsavers, Ryan is honoring Mother’s Day by helping the blind. For May she is screening Moms for  free.