A young girl with surgical marker above her eye plays with a crayon inside the Flying Eye Hospital.

World Sight Month 2024: Nandin-Egshiglen got the care she deserved

This World Sight Month, we’re urging parents, grandparents, and guardians everywhere to prioritize children's eye health. By taking action today, you can give a child the chance to love their eyes.

Love your Eyes campaign logo with Seymour the bear

Eye exams are a crucial step in catching vision problems early to prevent lifelong challenges. Unfortunately, not every child has access to the eye care they need. For Nandin-Egshiglen, a four-year-old girl from Mongolia, her care came thanks our dedicated supporters who helped her receive life-changing treatment.

Nandin-Egshiglen, affectionately known as "Gunj" or "Sky Princess," is the third of four siblings living in Ulaanbaatar. A few months ago, her parents became nervous when they noticed their daughter had developed cloudy eyes and was losing interest in her favorite activities. Nandin-Egshiglen, who once loved playing with her family and friends, even stopped going to preschool.

This all started when she had some fluid in her eyes that we were told was a result of the flu. But after that cleared up, we noticed she was putting the phone up to her face to see videos and even doing the same thing with drawing paper. This triggered the alarm for us, when we really knew something was going on with her eyes,” shares her mother, Odonsuvd, who suffered from her own eye issues as a young girl.

A young girl reads after receiving eye surgery while her grandmother watches over her.

With poor vision, little Nandig-Egshig had to hold things close to her face to see.

After hearing about a special program for children’s eyes at the National Center for Maternal and Child Health (NCMCH), Nandin-Egshiglen's mother brought her to an Orbis partner hospital where she was diagnosed with bilateral cataracts.

Dr. Divya Natarajan, a cataract specialist and Orbis Volunteer Faculty, identified Nandin-Egshiglen as a perfect candidate for surgery on board the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital. There, local doctors could watch the procedure to learn sight-saving surgical techniques for the future.

Image gallery: Nandin-Egshiglen's journey to healthy vision

While waiting for surgery, Little Nandin-Egshiglen had to hold her crayons within an inch of her face to see their color. But after a successful post-operative exam on her right eye the next day, she explored the plane all by herself. She even got to leave with her own Seymour teddy bear, which her mother says she absolutely adores.

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See Gunj's story of regaining her sight.

As Nandin-Egshiglen prepares to return to school, her mother is confident that the Orbis-trained doctors at NCMCH will now be able to treat her daughter’s second eye thanks to the training they received on board the plane “I want my daughter to have perfect eyes,” she tells us. “I want her to see freely without anything to stop her from day-to-day activities. It’s so important for kids to have a healthy set of eyes. That way they can live a happy life.”

We’d like to give a big thank you to everyone who helped Nandin-Egshiglen see clearly again — her dedicated mother and doctors, and of course supporters like you who make this work possible. Now this little girl has a future free from vision loss and a world of new opportunities awaits.

This World Sight Month, we’re asking our supporters to help children everywhere reach their full potential. Book an eye exam for a child you love and donate to Orbis so more girls like Nandin-Egshiglen can see clearly.

Donate this World Sight Month

Help more kids like Nandin-Egshiglen access the eye care they need to thrive!

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