Sammy's story

Sammy was born in 2019. The perfect final piece to our family of 5.

I noticed within the first few days that there were tiny white dots in the centre of both of Sammy’s eyes. I brushed it aside and put it down to fatigue and over worry on my behalf.

Just before we were leaving the hospital the paediatrician came to do a final check of Sammy. She’d mentioned earlier that she had seen red eye reflex in one eye but Sammy was being ‘uncooperative’ with the other eye, so she just wanted to double check. Very quickly I sensed something was wrong. She spent a lot of time looking into his eyes and eventually took him out of the room to examine him further with the assistance of a midwife. She came back in and told me that she couldn’t find red eye reflex in either eye and that Sammy would need to be seen by a specialist asap. She sat with me and made the call to the ophthalmologist who agreed to see us the following day. We left the hospital with a diary full of appointments and heads swirling with questions. 

We quickly learned that Sammy had cataracts in both eyes and he was monitored over the next few weeks to decide whether surgery was necessary. Eventually, at 8 weeks old, Sammy had surgery to remove the lenses in both his eyes.

Shortly after surgery we started our contact journey. To begin with it took the entire family, singing, dancing, flashy toys, whatever we could do to distract Sammy as we put his lenses in every morning and take them out every night. It literally used to take us hours and the amount of heartache it caused was huge but we knew we were doing it for the right reason and that Sammy would understand eventually. I can now get them in and out within seconds by myself but, at 19 months, he’s getting stronger and more resistant and I know things won’t always be this easy. As our amazing optometrist says this is a rollercoaster of a ride. 

Sammy is an amazing little guy who is far more adventurous (and cheeky!) than his older brother and sister so he continually keeps us all on our toes. Nothing has held him back so far and I can’t imagine anything getting in his way in the future!