Abu Dhabi: After losing vision in her right eye completely and partly in the left eye, Filipina Lilibeth Solis was struggling to come to terms with a world slipping into darkness.
"My loving husband and son were seen blurred… I felt I can't see them again," the 38-year-old told Gulf News on Monday at a hospital in Abu Dhabi.
Thanks to a 12-hour-long surgery, Lilibeth regained sight in both her eyes.
In October 2009, when the fish in a market in Dubai looked blurred, she had thought it was due to an irritation in the eye.
"But her vision in her right eye started to go along with the sense of smell and she started to show behavioural problems," said Jami Solis, her husband, who works as a telecommunication engineer in Dubai.
The regular treatment did not give much relief, he said. After a few months, "we lost the whole world in mid-April 2010", when she was diagnosed with a brain tumour, which had already robbed her of vision in the right eye, he said.
The vision in her left eye also started fading and Lilibath felt her world slipping into darkness day by day. The tumour had grown to the shape and size of an orange unnoticed, according to the doctors.
They approached Shaikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC) in Abu Dhabi last month, which recommended surgery to remove the tumour as she was losing vision in the left eye too.
Delight
But the chance of success in removing the tumour and regaining vision was low.
"Even if the tumour was removed successfully, there was no guarantee that she would regain her eyesight," Dr Dominic Venne, Head, Division of Neurosurgery who conducted a 12-hour-long surgery on her, told Gulf News.
The tumour weakens the nerves which, in turn, affects the eyesight. But the nerves are normally too fragile to rejuvenate [to restore the eyesight], he said.
"The only hope was she could at least retain vision of the left eye," Venne said. A few hours after the surgery, the doctor and her family were delighted to hear her say: "Now everything looks brighter. I am surprised."
The doctor said it was a surprise that she has started regaining the vision in the right eye too, along with the left eye.
"It is a second life for me and my family," Lilibeth said.
Asked whether the surgery was rare, the doctor said he conducts similar surgeries every week.
"But removing a tumour and restoring the eyesight is rare," Dr Venne said.
With inputs from Samihah Zaman, Staff Reporter
