GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM Thirteen-year-old Kyle Aldan, right, was recovering yesterday from a cornea transplant he received Friday at Queen's Medical Center. Aldan, with his mom, Tracy Sejeran, traveled from Guam, where the surgery could not be done.

Isle donations help boy
from Guam regain sight

Agencies pitch in to get the
13-year-old a cornea transplant

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By Treena Shapiro
tshapiro@starbulletin.com

When Kyle Aldan started having trouble with his eyesight in October, doctors in Guam gave him glasses.

His sight continued to worsen through the holidays, however, and in January he was diagnosed with keratoconus, a degenerative corneal disease. By then his right cornea had already ruptured, and a transplant was the only way to treat it.

That is when his family learned that the surgery could not be done in Guam and that their health insurance would not cover it.

Medical referral agencies in Guam and Hawaii helped the 13-year-old seventh-grader and his mother come to Oahu for the surgery, and on Friday, Kyle had a cornea transplant at Queen's Medical Center.

The Hawaii Lions Eye Bank and Makana Foundation donated the corneal tissue free, locating a donor on the mainland because no young corneal tissue was immediately available here.

Before the surgery, "It was real bad," Kyle said, describing his difficulty with reading, watching TV and recognizing people's faces from far away. "I stopped staying out in the sun where it's real bright," he said.

Until the stitches are removed, he will still have to wear sunglasses to protect his eyes.

Kyle said he is adjusting to his improved vision, and because he has the disease in both eyes, "they're making a contact lens for my other eye so it can be a little bit better," he said.

His mother, Tracy Sejeran, said she almost cried on Saturday when the bandages were removed and her son was able to read a vision chart.

"Before the surgery he was struggling to see that," she said.

She is looking forward to returning to Guam to see her other two children, who have been staying with her mother. Kyle and his mother return to Guam next week.

Now the family has to find a way to finish paying for her son's surgery. They raised funds by selling hot lunches and soda and asking for donations from local officials and organizations, but it has not been enough to cover the $12,900 hospital bill.

The Ronald McDonald House and a friend were able to help with some of the accommodations, but the family also will have to pay for air fare and the rest of their expenses.