Cataract program is a ray of hope for patients

Several ophthalmic clinics and hospitals in Vientiane provide cataract surgery, but at 7 million Lao kip ($353) it's prohibitively expensive for the family, which ekes out a living through one of Phetsamone's older sisters, the sole breadwinner, who works casual jobs on construction sites.

"I couldn't bring myself to tell her that I couldn't afford it," Phetsamone said. Three years ago, she quit her job at the Sanjiang Market — home to Chinese catering and retail businesses — to become her mother's full-time caregiver.

"I'm yearning to go back to work," she said. "Since I stopped working, I've become totally isolated, feeling like an outcast. No friends. No social life. Mom pestered me every day about the surgery. She was desperate to see."

Struggling to express her frustration at being blind, her mother often threw tantrums. "They happened when she wanted to reach an object she thought was in front of her but then realized it wasn't. She thrashed things around her to vent her rage," Phetsamone said.

The GX Foundation's humanitarian gesture of goodwill for afflicted and impoverished people in underdeveloped countries was timely.

Phetsamone came across a Facebook post about the cataract elimination program. With faith in the skill and dedication of the Chinese medical team from the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, she made up her mind to travel to the capital's downtown, hoping to restore her mother's vision against all odds.

The 29-year-old became her mother's round-the-clock "walking stick". The duo inching along cross-armed or hand in hand, their tempo dictated by the ailing mother's limp, was a touching sight at the hospital, observers said.

Phetsamone had to keep her mother in sight every second to avoid any possible danger as dementia compounded the older woman's cataract blindness.

"After brain surgery in 2021, her mind started going awry. Her memory faltered. She couldn't express herself properly. Eccentric behavior was common," Phetsamone said, recalling how her mother's mental issues got her into trouble. "She has gone missing several times."

Blindness had put her mother in a more vulnerable situation and exacerbated Phetsamone's concern for her safety.