Medical Services
Venkatrathnam: A New Will to Live
- Laxmaiah and Venkatrathnam
- Venkatrathnam free of cataract!
CBN.com – Five years ago, Venkatrathnam had a happy and comfortable life. She would pack her bag each morning and go to school. She was the youngest, and she enjoyed it; she loved school and studying.
Venkatrathnam’s problems began when she began to lose vision in her left eye. It happened so gradually that she didn’t pay much attention to it. Even her parents didn’t give it serious attention. Venkatrathnam’s father was a daily wage earner and her mother would go to work at times. They lived a hand-to-mouth existence and didn’t have enough money to afford medical treatment anyway. Her vision problem went from bad to worse until she lost total vision in her left eye.
‘I have no interest in life anymore, I don’t want to play, and I do not want to talk to anyone. I have become half-blind… I have to suffer…for the rest of my life,” 15-year-old Venkatrathnam said, losing her will to live.
When Venkatrathnam later accepted her problems, more tragedy struck her family.
Her mother died and both her brothers moved out to live separately. Her father began to fall sick. Venkatrathnam had to cope with all the changes in her life and her family all by herself. The pressure on her mounted since she had to take care of her father, too. She stopped going to school.
With only one good eye, doing all the household work had become very difficult for her. She resigned herself to her fate and didn’t think that anything good would ever come to her.
Her father Laxmaiah’s heart was also filled with grief. He felt responsible for the terrible condition his daughter was in. He hoped that their lives would go back to being normal again, but he was afraid that Venkatrathnam would not have a better future. Feeling hopeless and lost, he looked to God for help.
Thankfully, help was just around the corner. Operation Blessing India organized a medical camp in Prakasham district of Andhra Pradesh. Venkatrathnam came to the medical camp with her father Laxmaiah for a check-up. The doctors checked Laxmaiah and diagnosed his problems to be chronic lung infection. The OBI team gave him medicine and also made arrangements so that a local doctor would continue the follow-up medication and treatment required for him.
The eye specialist checked Venkatrathnam’s eyes and found that she had cataract in her left eye. She was advised immediate surgery to remove the cataract. OBI arranged for cataract surgeries for Venkatrathnam and five others. The patients were taken to a hospital in Ongole for surgery.
Dr. Sandhya Rani, the ophthalmic surgeon who conducted the surgery said, “OBI brought Venkatrathnam at the right time for surgery. Any further delay would have caused the loss of her eye permanently.”
Venkatrathnam’s surgery was successful. It was a very emotional moment for Laxmaiah when Venkatrathnam’s bandages were being removed. He couldn’t stop tears from flowing, as he learned that his daughter could see again.
It was a miracle for Venkatrathnam, and she regained her will to live.
She told the OBI team, “I want to thank each one of you. You have restored my eye sight. You have restored my joy to live...I will do every thing well and take care of my father better. The best thing is that I can go back to school once again!”
For more stories like this one, sign up to receive the WorldReach Newsletter from CBN.com in your email .
