By Latrishka Thomas
The healing process has begun for 10-month-old Shonaè Williams after surgery to remove a cataract from one of her eyes proved successful.
That information was shared by her mother, Ja’nae Williams, who told Observer that “within her first visit after the operation, Dr David Callender said that he was very pleased with the progress of her recovery; her healing was visible within a day of the surgery.”
In fact, the mother shared that Shonae “is very happy, smiling [and] playing”.
On May 18, the first-time mother received some troubling news that her daughter was born with a cataract in her right eye.
She expressed the difficulty she experienced knowing that her daughter could have eventually gone blind in one or both of her eyes.
Ja’nae therefore set out to raise $16,000 for her daughter’s surgery and last Monday the baby was able to have the cataract removed at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Barbados.
“My family and I are very pleased with how the procedure went and even more happy to see how fast baby Shonaé has been recovering. It is a very happy feeling,” Ja’nae stated.
But. like any other child, and having undergone a medical procedure, “there are times when Shonaé will get fussy”, the mother added.
She further shared that her baby has to wear an eye patch for six hours every day “to help the brain to remember that the use of the right eye is necessary and to help strengthen the vision within her right eye”, and this has consequently made her irritable.
“Shonaé was prescribed eye drops, which is used to help treat her eye with the treatment and the patch we are hoping that Shonaé will be able to become more familiar to recognise objects from a distance, so that her doctors can be aware of what level of vision is within the right eye,” the Swetes resident detailed.
Both Shonaè and her mother will be home by this weekend and upon returning Dr Jillia Bird will be monitoring the development of Shonaé’s eye while communicating with Dr David Callender, Ja’nae shared.