A blind schoolgirl who needed to raise €30,000 for a revolutionary treatment in China to help restore her sight has been given a date for the procedure – after getting the cash in just a few short weeks.
Little Keri Kelly, 9, has been blind since birth but was given hope by doctors using groundbreaking stem-cell treatment.
Keri’s mum Tracey decided money wasn’t going to stand in her way and in June she started a campaign to help raise the money needed to give her eldest daughter a chance to see.
Now just a few weeks later, the Keri Kelly Appeal has €45,000 siting in its account and Keri is set to fly to China for her procedure on October 7th.
Mum Tracey, from Buncrana, said she simply can’t believe how generous people have been.
“We had penciled in next August as Keri’s procedure date when we started the campaign in the hope that we would have the money.
“But the money has just been rolling in. People have done all sorts of great things to help Keri. I never even knew a lot of the people who helped.
‘It’s hard to believe that people can be so generous considering there is a recession going on and everyone is struggling,” she said.
Keri has never been able to see after being born with optic nerve hypoplasia which means her optic nerves have never grown.
As well as charity football matches and quizzes, Buncrana man Tony Porter took it upon himself to undertake a one day street collection for Keri and raised an amazing €9,000.
And Tracey has also revealed that she is planning to donate the extra cash raised so it can go and help another blind Irish child go to China and get a similar chance to Keri.
“There are still events planned and we will raise more money. We only need €30,000 so the rest will be donated to another child.
‘None of this would have been possible without the generosity of people,” she added.
Doctors in China do not guarantee Keri will be able to see after the treatment.
However having studied her medical history and researched all her medical files sent over by mum Tracey, they are confident they can restore Keri’s sight.
‘She is a little worried about the needles but we just keep telling her she is going on holidays.
“Herself and her sister Zoe, 5, talk about it all the time and it’s hard to believe it’s only a matter of weeks away now.
“We are anxious about going but we have been given this wonderful opportunity and it’s only possible because the people of Donegal took Keri to their hearts,” she said.
Keri, who is a pupil at Scoil Iasagain in Buncrana, has already revealed how the first things she wants to see are mum Tracey’s face – and a rainbow!
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