"The operation has been a success. Everything they have done has turned out very well and she has already recovered a percentage of vision." Paloma Tomás, Xiomara's mother, breathes "calmly" after learning that the surgical intervention her daughter faced this Monday, who suffers from a serious eye condition, went "very well." "The girl is fine, she is perfect, really, and very animated," this mother tells La Voz, who made her case public to ask for help, since they did not have the necessary money to face this operation.
Xiomara, seven years old, was operated on this Monday at 3:30 p.m. at the Barraquer Ophthalmological Clinic, in Barcelona, and could face the intervention on the other eye, the left one, this Friday. "In principle, more time was going to pass from one operation to another, but since her eye has not become inflamed and everything has gone well, they want to do it now," explains Paloma, for whom it is also an expense to have to return to Lanzarote to travel to Barcelona again.
The operation on Xiomara's right eye has finally cost 3,200 euros, because the doctor has not charged for the operation. The one on the other eye will also have a similar cost. To this must be added the additional tests, "which are very expensive", such as the biopsy to "truly know where the problem comes from" in Xiomara's eyesight, or the special analyses, glasses and new medicines.
"That's what scares me a bit, that the postoperative expenses are quite high. Today already in tests it has been more than 100 euros and we have not finished yet," says Paloma from Barcelona. This family has been able to face their daughter's operation thanks to the anonymous donation of people from Lanzarote, who have contributed more than 2,000 euros by depositing money in Paloma's account, and to the aid from the Cabildo and the Arrecife City Council.
At the Maternal and Child Hospital of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria they considered that this operation was not necessary and, according to Paloma, the only option that public health gave her was to transfer her daughter to the Hospital de La Paz, in Madrid, for "a second opinion." However, her struggle has finally paid off and she has obtained the money to be able to face this intervention.
