The adorable moment baby sees his mum for the first time after sight saving surgery
14.03.2023 - 19:47
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
This is the moment a baby whose vision was blighted by severe cataracts was left beaming with joy after seeing properly for the first time.
Six month old Leonard Walls was delighted when his sight was saved by doctors at Alder Hey Children's Hospital. However, his mum initially thought the problem was very different.
Rachael Fleming, 38, from Ellesmere Port, thought Leonard was suffering from reflux when she took him to Macclesfield A&E in July last year - but doctors suspected the problem was far more serious, the Liverpool Echo reports.
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"We didn't have any idea something was wrong until Macclesfield told us it wasn't reflux, it was infantile spasms," said Rachael. "He would round his shoulders and pull his knees up and he would scream. It looks like reflux, but it was coming in clusters. So doctors said he needed to go to Alder Hey to have a brain scan."
She took her son to Alder Hey, where doctors noticed white specks in Leonard's eyes - and delivered the bombshell news. Rachael continued: "Within minutes of the doctor having a look at Leonard, he said 'these are cataracts'. I was obviously very shocked and confused. There was such a lot to take in in such a short space of time. As far as I was concerned, he was a happy, healthy baby."
Cataracts is when the lens develops cloudy patches and can usually be treated with surgery.
Rachael said: "It got progressively worse. The actual white speck of the cataracts did get bigger, and his development kind of slowed down. He stopped making all the cues you would find in a baby, he stopped smiling, stopped laughing, he wasn't moving as much, so