Ashton regains eyesight

Deepesh 'Aston' Sombier

A blessing or a miracle could be said when Deepesh ‘Ashton’ Sombier regained his eyesight on May 15. Ashton underwent a cornea transplant on May 14 at the Sandhurst Eye Clinic which costed R47, 000. He was diagnosed with kerataconus.

The 18-year-old lost his eyesight round about February 2012, and had to leave school. His mum Rehana Pillay explained, Ashton underwent a cornea transplant in 2007 and he lost his sight in the right eye, leaving him with 58% vision in the left eye. She claimed the transplant was not successful.

Dr Imraan Jhetam from Lenmed clinic, performed the cornea transplant in 2007, said the transplant was successful. “The reason why he lost his eyesight was due to using cortisone eye drops without a prescription which caused a lot of pressure,” Jhetam said.

His current doctor, Brian Van Onselen confirmed that Ashton had a corneal graft in his right eye for keratoconus.  There were complications and he had lost most of the sight in the eye.

“Fortunately, the corneal transplant procedure in his left eye went very smoothly. We managed to get a cornea for him from the USA, which was shipped in, in a special preservative solution,” Van Onselen said.

He added that day two, Ashton was feeling comfortable and his vision had improved from five percent to 20 percent. As this heals, they can remove the sutures, and can expect further improvement.

Van Onselen’s is worried about rejection of the tissue and the first month is critical. Ashton will be on special cortisone drops to prevent rejection.

Ashton and his family

Funds were raised throughout the year for the transplant. "A total of R46, 680 was donated from the fund raising show hosted by Magic Sounds and Christian Revival Church (CRC), which included R5, 000 donated by Lenasia Berthan Church. It was remarkable that we were only short of R300 from the total cost," said Pastor Abraham Russel's from CRC. 

“I feel disappointed that I was held back from school, as I suppose to complete my schooling career in 2014. I aim to work at CRC for three years and be a Sunday Side Walk teacher,” Ashton said.

His parents are planning to send him to night school while he aims to work at CRC for three years and be a Sunday side walk teacher.

Pastor Russels thanks everyone who participated in helping raise funds for Ashton and is very pleased to hear Ashton wants to work at the church for three years.