Help Fransisco See

 *November 18, 2010 Update*

Fransisco has his glasses, and he loves them! He says that before having them he couldn't leave his home on his own because he could see so little, but now with his glasses he can go out and function much more independently. Fransisco has thanked us at Mayan Families and asked us to send deepest thanks to his sponsor. This has made a huge difference for him. 

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*November 7, 2010 Update*

We have received a donation to help Fransisco's family buy him glasses! Thank you so much for your support. We are currently working out with the family how to go about making the purchase, and we'll of course keep you posted--photos to come soon! Again, thank you so much. 

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Fransisco Sahón is 81 years old and has been living alone since last year, when his wife of over 50 years passed away. They had four children: three daughters and one son, but their son died in adulthood. Fransisco is near blind: he can only see from one eye, but the vision in that eye is very poor. The reason Fransisco cannot see from his left eye is because a failed operation ruined it. After this operation, Fransisco was supposed to go to the optometrist every three months. However, until we took Fransisco for a checkup last week, he hadn’t seen a doctor for four years because his daughters, who are struggling to feed their children and dependent father, hadn’t been able to take off time from their work to accompany him to Sololá, the neighboring town where Fransisco’s doctor is located (Fransisco cannot go there on his own because of his disability).

Fransisco was so excited to finally be able to go see an optometrist with the help of Mayan Families staff, especially because his vision has been deteriorating, making him worried that soon he’ll go completely blind. And at the doctor’s we received great news: Fransisco does not need an operation! Moreover, his vision could be very significantly improved with special glasses. It was very relieving to hear this, but unfortunately Fransisco’s daughters cannot pool together enough money to buy Fransisco the 600 quetzales ($75) glasses. Together they are able to scrape together half of the cost, but they are asking for help to cover the other half ($37.50).

Please help Fransisco get his glasses. Improving his ability to see will make living alone so much easier for him. To make a gift, please click here and enter “Elderly Care, Glasses for Fransisco Sahon” in the Other box.