Help Kona See Clearly

Hi! My name is Kona! I am 36 and my pronouns are She/They. Some of you might also know me as Konaburd. I am a furry, a streamer, and a fursuiter! I am raising money to help pay for EVO ICL (Implantable Collamer Lens) surgery to correct my vision. This is a surgery that is completely reversible and alterable, unlike LASIK which causes a permanent alteration to the cornea, and is known to work well for people who have dry or sensitive eyes, or high degrees of correction (that's me!) and astigmatism (also me!).

It was clear early on that I was nearsighted. When I was in grade school I was having trouble learning to read, and I would get migraines in class from trying to focus my eyes on the board.

I think I was like 5 or 6 when I got my first pair of SUPER MARIO glasses. I hated wearing them. I would always misplace them, or they would get broken and I wouldn't be able to see until they were fixed. When I was a teen I begged my family to get me contact lenses and I wore those for a while, but they were expensive, and because of my ADHD I would forget to take them out and I would fall asleep in them, which is really bad for your eyes.

Nowadays, I wear glasses for the most part. I can't really wear contacts comfortably. My prescription is fairly high now, and the only thing that fixes it are Toric lenses for astigmatism which rotate when I blink, making it uncomfortable and blurry. My eyes water when I wear contacts, and I basically cannot see when I'm wearing them because of all of these small complications.

So that leaves me with glasses, which are incredibly impeding to many of the activities that I want to take part in regularly, such as using binoculars for birdwatching, using my VR headset comfortably, fursuiting, or wearing fun sunglasses while outside or driving. I want to be able to see my partner at night when we are in bed. When I wake up, I don't want to have to search around for my glasses before I am able to see. I still misplace them at least once a week, despite all my efforts. ADHD is a hell of a thing.

I know a lot of fursuiters will understand, as fun as fursuiting is, you can't see inside of a fursuit head, and you would be hard-pressed to fit glasses inside of most masks. Right now when I wear my fursuit head, I have to do so without glasses, so I am effectively completely blind. It really makes it hard for me to enjoy this aspect of my life.

I also have trouble when it comes to streaming. I mentioned that my VR headset was hard to wear with glasses, but on my stream I am a Vtuber, and I have yet to find a face tracking software that plays nice with glasses. That last one is more of a minor annoyance, but all of these things add up and it makes it really hard for me to enjoy things. I feel like I could be getting so much more out of life if I could just see properly.

I have already checked into most avenues for helping alleviate the cost of this surgery, but the US medical associations and insurance companies don't deem corrective surgery as a necessary surgery. It is considered elective, because vision as a whole isn't considered a necessity. That is why things like this are so hard for normal people to access.

Our insurance doesn't cover this surgery. Not only that, they only allow us benefits every other year. I have to choose between one pair of prescription glasses, sunglasses, or half a year of contacts. That is every other year. After that I have to pay out of pocket for anything vision-related.

The procedure for both eyes costs a total of $6,500. I have set the goal at $6,900 to account for any fees, although I don't expect to reach the goal. But any part that I don't have to finance is an incredible weight off of my partner and I.

I know that everyone is struggling right now, so please only give if you are able and don't feel obligated!! I appreciate anyone who donates to help me get this surgery. This would really, truly change my life.

Thank you, everyone!!