When Michelle Saaiman noticed something unusual about her toddler’s eye, she never imagined the condition was so severe that the eye melts away.
The devastated mother said she initially believed her then 16-month-old child contracted an eye infection, but sadly, the reality was much worse than that. Doctors informed her that the toddler had in fact contracted herpes simplex virus (HSV), likely from a kiss he received from someone with an active virus on their mouth.
“The doctor was telling me there’s a fever blister growing in my child’s cornea. I was literally looking at the doctor wondering whether it’s April 1, because I thought it was an April Fool’s joke,” Michelle told Metro.
Unfortunately, the herpes attacked the eye’s cornea, leading little Juwan to lose his sight on that eye.
This was a result of the loss of the natural lubrication.
“By that time, the herpes just caused so much damage that he essentially lost all feeling in the eye. He could not see anything,” Michelle shared. “It meant the brain did not recognize the eye anymore and stopped sending signals to the eye. The gel later protecting the eye evaporated, and the eye dried out.”
The family took Juwan to Cape Town, where he had underwent amnion graft surgery in hopes of saving his cornea. In April, they are planning another surgery during which nerves would be transferred from his leg to his eye in hopes of creating a chance of cornea transplant the following year.
“Juwan is such a trooper, he’s really just always had a smile on his face. But he was in severe pain,” his mom said. “It is not fair for such a tiny human to go through all that.”
At first, Michelle and her husband were really mad at whoever kissed their boy, spreading the herpes. They, however, are aware that the person didn’t do it intentionally.
At the moment, the virus has been somewhat contained, but sadly, the damage was done and Juwan regaining sight in that eye is not possible.
His parents try to raise awareness by sharing the story of their toddler’s eye that melts away due to something so innocent as a kiss. They want everyone to be aware of the dangers of the virus.
”A fever blister is supposed to be on your lips or in your mouth,” she said. ”I’ve never in my life heard of a fever blister growing on someone’s cornea.”
Michelle wrote a lengthy post on Facebook and the family set up a fundraiser to help them with the enormous medical expenses which include frequent travels to South Africa, since the family is from Namibia.
”It’s been a long, hard road, and we’re doing everything we can to save our son’s eye,” Michelle wrote.
We truly hope things would turn for the best for this young boy.