PHOTOS: Blind Former Sudanese Slave Taken To The US For Eye Surgery

UPDATE (Friday 9/2, 10:00 am) — Ker had his exam at Wills yesterday. Dr. Haller said his eye pressure was good and was in the high teens, low twenties so that was good. He can see a hand waving without an additional lens but can’t tell the direction of the wave. His retina looks good and he is keeping his head down although he still has the sniffles and watering of the eye. We will not really get a handle on how much vision he will have for six weeks. Part of that as a corneal transplant it takes a while to connect to the eye.  He is bothered by bright sunlight which is a good sign. None of this would be possible without the work of the team at Wills Eye Institute.

On another front, Ker is still a teenage boy from a different culture. He was a slave, his life was not his own and he is illiterate but very fast to pick up English. He is having trouble having a woman doctor even when I explained that she was the most famous retinal surgeon in the world. He did ask in English the other day. “Dr. Haller, how are you?”   When I remarked to him that I had to keep my head down during all my retina surgeries (4 in all) he remarked that he was ” a man and could take it.” I have to say it is a lesson for me as to how ingrained culture is —both the Dinka culture and the Arab/slave culture he grew up in.

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UPDATE (Monday 8/29, 4:00 pm) — Some more photos of Ker, post-surgery, courtesy of Roger Barone at the Wills Eye Institute:

He’s coming along steadily.  Could see best view yet of attached retina today.  Inflammation decreasing. Pressure is still mid-20s since tube still closed to keep bubble in, but it is holding and not increasing.  We are seeing them back on Thursday morning.  We will not know about extend to vision before six weeks.

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UPDATE (Thursday, 3:05pm) — Here are some photos and another update from Thursday morning. Again, all photos come courtesy of Roger Barone from the Wills Eye Institute:

Great news from Drs. Haller and Hammersmith:
Follow up exam this am shows no infection, no complications, no swelling in the wall of the eye, no bleeding in eye from overnight. He does have raised Interocular Pressure. He’s also coming out of anesthesia nicely. When Dr. Hammersmith waved her hand in front of his naked eye this am he could notice something moving. Dr. Haller says, “He looks fabulous.”

“It’s great – we’re taking one step at a time,” she added.

Ker still has to keep his head down because there’s a gas bubble that was put in the eye yesterday during the surgery that pushes the retina to the back of the eye so, as it rises, he needs to keep his head low.
Dr. Haller believes part of the worst is over – he still has a little ways to go but so far so good!

Doctors want his eye to continue “marinating” in anti inflammatories. His cornea is also getting “plenty of nourishment.” He’s scheduled to return for another follow up tomorrow at noon here at Wills with Dr. Haller.
Medication-wise, he’s on a drop and a pill for pressure in the eye, he’s starting Acutane to reduce the chances of the retina detaching, he’s on antibiotics, cream for the cornea, and steroids.

No restrictions on what he can eat. He can bathe or shower – just as long as he protects the eye with a cover so he doesn’t bump into anything or get an injury during this crucial recovery time. Still needs to keep his head down. At least for a few more days.

They were leaving to return to the hotel to rest.

PS: One other nugget of good news, Ker complained of the bright light when he left Wills Eye Institute today. That is very good news!!

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UPDATE (5:45 pm) — Here are a few photos from today’s surgery, all courtesy of Roger Barone from the Wills Eye Institute:

For a full set of photos from today’s surgery, visit our Latest Photos section, located on the homepage of talkradionews.com. Or, click here to view them on Flickr.

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We are in Philadelphia and Ker will be getting surgery at 7:30 am. I met Ker on one of my trips to South Sudan. Christian Solidarity International (CSI) introduced Ker to me as they knew I had eye contacts and had lost most of my vision in my right eye. I became very attached to Ker.

(CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT KER ALEU)

For those of you new to this, Ker is the teen that was taken to slavery with his mother as part of war booty during the war between the North and the South that lasted 22 years. The North is Arab Muslim and the South is Christian. Ker’s slave mater was afraid his mother would leave and hung him upside down from a tree, lit a fire under him and rubbed hot peppers in his eyes. That, I am told is like pouring acid into his eyes.

After much pushing we finally got him a visa to come to the United States. He came a week ago and is having surgery at Wills Eye with a glaucoma surgeon, a retina surgeon and a cornea transplant surgeon. The outcome we have been warned will most likely not be good and the most we can expect is useable vision — shapes, colors but not the ability to read. However, useable vision at this point would be a vast improvement.

He was alsoevaluated at Lighthouse International and will get services for low vision soon! The head of this team is my Surgeon, Dr. Julia Haller, who is the chief at Wills.

Most of you know I am a Spiritualist — I believe in distant healing — please send good, thoughts, energy and prayers if that is your belief to Ker — I will be updating though the day.

Update on Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 8:49AM by Geoff Holtzman

Ker went into surgery at Wills Eye Institute at 7:30 this morning. First is the Glaucoma surgeon to make sure the eye pressure is controlled. Then a plastic cornea so Dr. Haller can look and see if there needs to be any retina repairs, then Dr. Hammersmith will put in a donor cornea.

The cornea is from a young person (not good for that young person who passed) and is donated by the Lions. Dr. Hammersmith says it is a beautiful cornea. We could not ask for a better eye team in the whole world. He will not get a lens, but as I learned from my eye you do not need a lens to see. That would be too much surgery for today. Dr. Haller said to have low expectations, that is difficult.

Below is a photo of Dr. Haller, Dr. Hammersmith, Ker’s translator, Agot, and the nurse and Ker.

Update on Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 11:45AM by Staff

Dr. Haller called from the OR. When I talked to her about a half hour ago she said there was lots of methodical work left to be done. Ker had about 30% of his nasal retina detached (the other eye is totally gone so there was no surgery on that today).

It was chronically detached and cysts were formed there (retina) and scar tissue — they removed the vitreous — the used laser and flattened it. She has air filling it right now — the Glaucoma surgeon put a reservoir in back of the eye — he will have long acting gas in there (which means his head must be down for a few weeks — from my limited experience with four eye surgeries) — they put in the plastic corena so Dr. Haller could see the retina.

Now, Dr. Hammersmith will put in the donor cornea — Dr. Haller said this is basically good news and that they have a 50/50 chance this will do the trick (remember he will not most likely have readable vision even if the result is good)— there was some glaucoma damage to the optic nerve.

So that is your update — more when he is out of surgery!!

Keep Ker in your thoughts!! I believe in distant healing — Ellen

Update on Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 12:10PM by Staff

Ker is still in surgery, so that will mean when he is out in about a half hour it will be five hours in the OR.

Dr. Hammersmith said that Dr. Haller finished the retinal detachment. His lens was dislodged and was not
sitting in the right position. Dr. Haller fixed the retina and Dr. Hammersmith said that she replaced it
with a clear, beautiful cornea. The cornea was donated by the Lions Eye Bank (they usually cost $2500.00)
and was from a 20-year-old. We will write a thank you letter to the family who donated their child’s cornea.

The cornea does not like air so we are hoping that by Ker keeping his head down over the next three-six
weeks that we can keep the new cornea well. The challenge is the eye pressure and Dr. Mantravadi is
putting in a small device that will help with the pressure — he will have to be on a drug called Diamox.
I am a veteran of Diamox and it is a horrible, horrible drug, but I was an old bat (or goat) when I was on it
and he is young.

As Dr. Hammersmith says, challenges persist — there was glaucoma damage to the optic nerve — we should know in a month or two, but he maybe able to see more light as early as tomorrow. One challenge now is keeping the retina attached, and I can tell you from personal experience that it is a challenge. With extreme luck, and we are talking extreme, he could see the big E — for reference in my bad eye I cannot
(that is 20/400). That would be a miracle!!!!

Keep thoughts, prayers or how ever you send good energy in our direction.

Update on Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 1:53PM by Ellen Ratner

I apologize for those of you that are physicans if I did not get all the terms correctly.

Ker is out of surgery— five hours— they are taking him from anesthesia slowly as they have learned from Vietnam vets that  anestheisa can cause flashbacks so it is important to bring him out slowly so he does not re-experience the trauma. Agot Deng, who is translating was scrubbed into the OR at the very end so if he woke up she could talk to him to prevent fear from flashbacks of the trauma.

Three were three surgeons Dr. Mantravadi went first— he is the Glaucoma guy, he put in a resevoir—then Dr. Hammersmith the cornea person— the entire iris was fused to the back of the cornea —along with the cataracted lens and the vitreous gel— everything in the mid portion of the anterior chamber was obliterated. The retina was 30% detatched and there was fibrotic bands of scar tissue under the retina.  Then Dr. Hammersmith put the new cornea on— the good news is that the vitreous was solid (because he is young) and held the good part of the retina in place.

Dr. Haller shaved down the vitreous so that it was flush with the retina— and pulled out the bands of scar tissue— all the three surgeons in the room debated about the bubble— should they put in oil or gas (I have had both during various surgeries) There was mild to moderate damage with the optic nerve— they put a tube for glacoma in the parsplana-as well— then Dr. Mantravadi covered the tube with tissue— They went with gas— C3F8 gas put in by Dr. Haller.

There is a suture around the resevoir and it will hold it in place for the next 4-6 weeks— Dr. Haller (who is the chief here at Wills) said that every one was pumped in the OR. They are all on the Ker team. We could not have asked for anything or anyone better than the team here at Wills!!!! The macula was not detached so that is good news. Dr. Haller says a lot has to happen — the retina has to stay in place— he must keep his head down to have as little scaring as possible— they gave him high does of IV steroids and will continue on high doses if he can tolerate it over the next week via pill.

Dr. Haller is using off-label Acutane (acne drug) as that has been found to impact scarring—as she says she is”throwing in the kitchen sink.” The donor we found out was a twenty year old girl and we will write a very long thank you note to her family and to the wonderful people at the Lions Club. Her cornea could not have gone to a more deserving person than Ker!

If all goes well and we are very, very, very lucky Ker will be able to see the Big E at some point. That would be a result way beyond what we  thought would be possible when he was evaluated a week ago when he first came to the USA. I was feeling pretty hopeless then.  

Keep your healing thoughts and prayers coming — Ker will need it to prevent complications and rejection of the cornea and the repaired retina from detaching.