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Anyone who\u2019s had children has likely seen them suffer from eye infections now and then.<\/strong><\/p>\n But when Michelle Saaiman took a closer look at her son\u2019s eye, she made a horrifying discovery.<\/strong><\/p>\n A heart-wrenching story has emerged about a little boy who\u2019s facing the terrifying reality of losing his eye after contracting herpes in his cornea from a kiss.<\/p>\n It\u2019s every parent\u2019s worst nightmare \u2014 watching their child suffer from something they never expected.<\/p>\n Michelle Saaiman, from Namibia, noticed something unusual in her 16-month-old son, Juwan\u2019s eye last August, initially thinking it was just an eye infection. But when antibiotic drops didn\u2019t work and the infection worsened, a specialist confirmed the unimaginable: Juwan had contracted\u00a0herpes<\/a>\u00a0simplex virus (HSV), likely from someone with an active cold sore kissing him around his eye.<\/p>\n The diagnosis left Michelle and her husband in shock.<\/p>\n Michelle told\u00a0Metro<\/a>, \u201cThe doctor was telling me there\u2019s a fever blister growing in my child\u2019s cornea. I was literally looking at the doctor wondering whether it\u2019s April 1, because I thought it was an April Fool\u2019s joke.\u201d<\/p>\n Sadly, the herpes caused so much damage to Juwan\u2019s cornea that he became completely blind in that eye. Juwan\u2019s eye began to \u201cmelt away\u201d as the natural lubrication was lost, and a 4mm hole opened up. At one point, doctors feared he might lose his eye completely.<\/p>\n \u201cBy that time, the herpes just caused so much damage that he essentially lost all feeling in the eye, and he could not see anything,\u201d Michelle shared. \u201cIt meant the brain did not recognize the eye anymore and stopped sending signals to the eye. The gel later protecting the eye evaporated, and the eye dried out.\u201d<\/p>\n To give their son a fighting chance, Juwan\u2019s parents flew him to Cape Town for specialized treatment.<\/p>\n The toddler underwent amnion graft surgery in hopes of saving his cornea. His eyelids were stitched together as a precaution, and the family is planning another major surgery in April to transfer nerves from his leg to his eye. If successful, this procedure will pave the way for a cornea transplant next year.<\/p>\n Despite all he\u2019s been through, Michelle says Juwan has been incredibly brave. \u201cJuwan is such a trooper, he\u2019s really just always had a smile on his face. But he was in severe pain,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is not fair for such a tiny human to go through all that.\u201d<\/p>\n At first, Michelle and her husband were understandably \u201creally, really angry\u201d at the person responsible for passing the herpes virus onto their son.<\/p>\n \u201cBoth my husband and myself, we were just angry with whoever was so selfish to kiss my child in his face with an active fever blister,\u201d Michelle said. \u201cKisses come from a place of love. So whoever gave him this, I\u2019m sure it wasn\u2019t done intentionally or with any idea to do him harm.\u201d<\/p>\n The family\u2019s journey has been filled with uncertainty and challenges. Juwan\u2019s parents had to navigate weeks of medical procedures, including contacting experts in New York for the right medication. They lived in constant fear that the herpes could spread to his brain or his other eye.<\/p>\n Although the virus has been somewhat contained, the damage to Juwan\u2019s eye is irreversible, and his parents are still fighting to save his vision.<\/p>\n Michelle is raising awareness about the serious risks of spreading the herpes virus and how something as seemingly harmless as a kiss can cause irreversible harm.<\/p>\n \u201dA fever blister is supposed to be on your lips or in your mouth,\u201d she said. \u201dI\u2019ve never in my life heard of a fever blister growing on someone\u2019s cornea.\u201d<\/p>\n She wrote a lengthy post on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0about the incident, which has since gone viral. A\u00a0fundraiser<\/a>\u00a0has also been set up to help with the astronomical costs of Juwan\u2019s treatment, which include flights to South Africa and expensive medication.<\/p>\n If you feel compelled to help, Michelle says every contribution makes a difference. \u201dIt\u2019s been a long, hard road, and we\u2019re doing everything we can to save our son\u2019s eye.\u201d<\/p>\nThought it was a April Fool\u2019s joke<\/h3>\n
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Why his eye \u201dmelted away\u201d<\/h3>\n
Uncertainty and challenges<\/h3>\n
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Raising awareness<\/h3>\n