Jamaican returns from Cuban eye care miracle blind and bitter

Thu Jun 15, 2006
Jamaican returns from Cuban eye care miracle blind and bitter

Kenneth Smith, 48, sees himself as a victim of false hopes and bogus
promises.
He is one of several Jamaicans who went to Cuba as part of the Operation
Miracle programme. That programme has helped many, but Kenneth said he
left for Cuba with sight and returned traumatized and blind.

Kenneth Smith has been a long time, insulin-dependent diabetic. He said
he has managed to keep himself in reasonably good health.

But last year, he began to notice his failing eyesight.

No Jamaican doctor was willing to operate on him because of his
diabetes. He heard about the Cuban eye programme by chance and applied
to get on it.

In no time he was headed for Cuba, part of a large group of hopeful
Jamaicans, grateful for the free treatment.

Jamaican doctors had told him his left eye was badly damaged by the
diabetes. The right eye was the one in which he was assured 75 per cent
of his eyesight could be restored through surgery.

Kenneth was able to see for nine days after surgery and then... all was
darkness.

In his shock and confusion, alienated by the language barrier, he grew
frustrated. No one could tell him what was happening; no one could
explain why he was returning to Jamaica blind.

He got back home on December 5 with an eye infection. By December 17, he
was scheduled for a return trip to Cuba. This time doctors removed a
painful growth on his eyeballs. But he said even then no one would tell
him why he couldn't see.

Back home in Jamaica once again, he sought answers from local medical
authorities. The next month was a whirlwind of trauma. He returned to
Cuba a third time and stayed a month waiting for follow up surgery.

As a Rastafarian diabetic in a country where pork is the meat of choice,
he stopped eating. He ended up in intensive care on the verge of a
diabetic coma not once but twice.

He returned home just last week...still blind, still wanting answers,
still angry and bitter.

Today he lives with his wife and child, spending most of his days in a
semi-darkened room dwelling on his life before his so called miracle.

http://www.rjr94fm.com/news/story.php?category=2&story=25525