John

Please send your gift today to help give the miracle of sight to adults and children, like John, in the world’s poorest places.

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” – John 8:12

Young John, from the Philippines, lives with his Mum Mary, his Dad Wilson and his baby sister Alexa. He is a ‘star pupil’ at school – top of his class! He loves Maths most of all, and dreams of becoming an engineer. His teachers say he has an incredibly bright future ahead of him.

But his hopes and dreams were fading away – because 8-year-old John was going needlessly blind from congenital cataracts.

Please will you prayerfully consider sending a generous sight-saving gift today, to help restore the hopes and dreams of adults and children, like John.

By helping people with avoidable blindness you will be helping them to shine their brightest, to realise the potential God has given them, and to help lift them out of poverty.

Your kind heart will be warmed to hear why John wants to become an engineer when he grows up. As John said himself…

“I want to build houses. Because I want to help my family who don’t have money.”

John is only eight years old, and he already has such a big heart!

Just imagine what this incredible young boy’s future could be, without his sight-stealing cataracts.

If he was able to build a life where he could live independently, without having to rely on others every single day, he could achieve his dreams.

But instead, John was going needlessly blind.

Your miracle gift of sight will help a child, like John, shine his brightest.

“I can’t read well when my eyesight is blurred and I can’t study well. I feel sad. I get upset when I can’t read. I love reading books.”

It’s heart-breaking to hear how John’s fading sight was stopping him from doing what he loved.

And it was growing worse by the day. He continued to struggle at school and found studying almost impossible with his failing sight.

John needed a miracle. And it needed to happen soon, while it was early enough for cataract surgery to be successful.

Early intervention was necessary to fully restore John’s sight.

Every day, especially in the early years of brain development, a child can permanently lose the ability to see perfectly, even if sight is restored.

That is why it’s so important to send your gift as soon as you can.

The sooner your generous gift arrives, the sooner it will help a child, like John, to get the kind of early intervention they need.

The surgical materials involved in cataract surgery costs just $35 per adult. For a child it is $230, which is considerably more due to the need for general anaesthetic to keep them safe and still during surgery.

This is the miracle that you can be part of today.

Just think what your generous gift will do for adults and children, like John, who are trapped in a cycle of poverty and disability.

John hoped to return to school as soon as he could…

“If I can’t go to school I’ll be sad because I’ll miss my classmates, my teacher and my friends.”

But this little boy’s hopes were slipping away. As his father, Wilson, exclaimed. “He came to us and apologised and said, ‘I’m so sorry that I will not be able to fulfil my dreams to become an engineer because of my condition.’ I was actually thinking that this could be the end… he’s going to be blind.”

What must it feel like for Wilson to see his precious son, who he loves so much, completely robbed of his potential?

But imagine what your sight-saving gift can do for children, like John, today. Your generosity will transform the lives of people with avoidable blindness.

“I imagine myself being in his shoes, not able to see around clearly, and sooner or later becoming blind. We fear for his future and I can’t imagine how he would be able to survive that,” said Wilson, John’s dad.

You are such a compassionate person, and I know you’ll be saddened to know that if John didn’t receive the surgery he needed, he would lose so much…

His sight was fading.

His ability to go to school was fading.

His chance to grow up and live independently was fading.

His dreams of becoming an engineer and building houses were fading.

His hope of escaping poverty was fading…

“It’s actually very hard to ask for help from anybody. In our neighbourhood it’s very hard for others to extend help, because they are also poor like us. We only have hand to mouth existence… we don’t have money to afford the surgery.”

The sad truth is, without help from kind-hearted people like you, adults and children, like John, may never receive the surgery they urgently need.

When John’s family was trying so hard just to earn enough money to buy food and other basic needs, how could they possibly afford to pay for specialist eye surgery.

But your gift today can be the answer to the prayer that families like John’s are waiting for.

“We prayed for the miracle of healing for John. And at the same time, we prayed that someone could be used by God to help us out of this. And that’s the only hope. We want John to be happy to enjoy all those things that he used to enjoy without limitations, because of his eye problem.” – John’s parents.

Thankfully all of this changed for John, because of kind and generous people like you.

John was able to receive the miracle of sight-saving surgery at a cbm-funded hospital to remove his blinding cataracts.

When the bandages came off John’s eyes, he was so excited. He could see clearly! John’s parents, Mary and Wilson, were thankful to God for answering their prayers, and also for the generosity of kind and caring people like you.

John is happy now that he is back at school. He wants to learn as much as he can, so that one day he will become an engineer, and be able to build a house for his family, and help his community.

This is the remarkable impact people like you can have in the lives of children and adults living in poverty with avoidable blindness!

Your miracle gift can help change everything for adults and children, like John, in the world’s poorest places… so they can shine their brightest!

Every $35 for an adult, or $230 for a child, you send today, can help provide sight-saving cataract surgery to help give someone back their sight.

Please prayerfully consider sending your gift to help make miracles possible today, so that adults and children, like John, can shine their brightest.

Every time you make a miracle possible, to restore sight for one more person like John, you will help fill their life with many bright possibilities.

What an astounding way to let God work through you to give the miracle gift of sight to our brothers and sisters in the world’s poorest places.

Thank you for your ongoing generosity to help people with avoidable blindness. May God bless you.