A toddler was left blind in one eye and “in 24/7 pain” after he fell over and bumped his head while learning to walk at nursery.
Levi Lithgow, aged three, had a minor bump when he was only one-year-old. It seemed harmless but weeks on his eye became increasingly light sensitive – as the bump had dislodged his lens in his right eye.
A year on, the lens was removed but it couldn’t be replaced as Levi’s eye kept filling with fluid, causing him more and more pain. The tot still spends most days in agony and is blind in one eye but faces a three-year waiting list to have his eye removed.
Mum Gemma Lithgow, 22, from Ayr, said: “It’s got to the point that he wakes in the middle of the night screeching and clawing at his eye. The pain is so bad that there’s no consoling him.
“Having his eye removed would stop all of his pain and the hospital trips. He would be able to live a normal little boy’s life. I couldn’t imagine him living three years with the amount of pain he is in.”
Gemma and husband, Robert, 24 – who both work as school transporters – said their son was perfectly normal and healthy. But a little bump to the head aged one, in May 2022, while learning to walk, changed everything. Two weeks after the small fall, his right eye became increasingly light-sensitive and he would become terrified whenever doctors or ophthalmologists tried to examine him.
Gemma said: “When he was in the light, it would hurt. We assumed it was just a scratch at first. It got to the point he couldn’t travel in the car without us blocking the window with a towel first.”
Tests showed the knock on the head had led to his lens becoming dislocated, and the lens was removed surgically in December 2023. He was left completely blind in that eye but medics hoped to replace the lens and fix the issues.
However without a lens, his eye pressure rose as the eye filled with blood and fluids – causing him further agony. Doctors said they wouldn’t be unable to replace the lens until the pressure was stabilised.
Levi had to go for monthly surgeries under general anaesthetic to drain the fluids – but within two weeks they would begin to build up again. But his last surgery was in August 2024, when doctors revealed too much damage had been done to the eye, and his vision couldn’t be saved.
But that means no more surgeries will take place to drain the fluid build-up – leaving the little lad in more agony than before. Because of how exhausting the pain and light-sensitivity can be, Levi can only manage half-days at nursery and “can’t live the life of a normal three-year-old”.
Gemma said: “When it’s sunny outside, he can’t see where he’s going and it causes him pain. He ends up shutting the other eye too – and then he’s completely blind.”
Gemma said the only solution now is to have his eyeball removed and replaced with a prosthetic to stop his pain. But Levi is on a three-year waiting list for the op – and Gemma fears the effects of that on her son’s wellbeing.
She said: “In three years, he would miss out on so much – school activities, trips, playing with his friends. I can’t imagine the stress the hospitals are under but I also can’t imagine what three years of this would look like for him in pain.”
The parents have looked into getting the operation done privately in a bid to relieve their young son of his suffering. They calculated £17,000 should cover the surgery, follow-up care and cost of having a custom prosthetic eye made for him.
The surgery involves the removal of his eye and a skin graft put into his eye socket for a prosthesis to be inserted into. It would mean Levi wouldn’t need any further surgeries, and would only need to replace the prosthesis as his eye sockets grow.
Gemma has set up a GoFundMe donation page in a desperate bid to get her son the care he needs. It has already seen more than £6,500 of donations by over 400 kind supporters, to add to £7,000 of their own money they have managed to save.
But they are still several thousand pounds off their target. Gemma said: “If we can get the money we could have the surgery done by the start of next year. There must have been a one-in-a-million chance of this happening – he was healthy until he bumped his head.”
To donate, visit their GoFundMe page.
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