Real Life

Toddler sees Christmas lights for first time after life-changing eye surgery

“It was difficult to believe he could see the lights 15m away. This sort of thing was absurd prior to eye surgery.”
Child looking at Christmas lights

A little boy living with Marfan Syndrome – a condition that effects the body’s connective tissues, impacting how the body frows and develops – is living proof that Christmas miracles truly do exist.

And his loving mum, Stacey Thomas, couldn’t be more grateful.

The Liverpool Leader journalist wrote an article describing her two-year-old son Jude’s condition (he is double-jointed, has flat feet, already stands at 108cm tall and is also extremely short-sighted), and how heartwarming it was to watch him admire the lights.

Although, it is his vision, in particular, that has been a focus for Stacey, with one of his lenses having dislocated and blocked his vision.

Following a lensectomy to fix the dislocated lens, Jude’s vision has vastly improved, but the youngster is still experiencing blurriness and whether or not he will have full vision in the future will be determined in the coming weeks.

Yet it is this operation that has allowed Jude to see a beautiful Christmas light display for the very first time.

“We visited a Northmead home with a million Christmas lights on Saturday night,” Stacey wrote.

“We sat on the grass, enjoyed our sausage on a bread, surrounded by hundreds of other families doing the exact same.”

“Little did they know, this was different for us. Jude had never seen Christmas lights.”

Prior to this, Jude could only see things a few centimetres in front of him – “it was difficult to believe he could see the lights 15m away. This sort of thing was absurd prior to eye surgery,” Stacey explains.

“The first thing he said when he put on his new glasses post-surgery was ‘Mummy, everything’s moved’. This moment will stick with me forever.”

Not only were the lights objects of his affection, but the twinkling stars in the night’s sky caused the little one to look up in awe – something those of us with clear vision take for granted.

“His eyes scanned the night sky a little more and he spotted a bright dot,” Stacey remembers.

“At this moment I realised he’d never seen the moon before. I had a little tear in my eye.”

Talk about a Christmas miracle!

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