Tonya's Cataract Surgery

Tonya Dudley Sumner is organizing this fundraiser.

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Dear Family & Friends,

As most of you know, this is not my normal way of doing things, I am a very independent woman and have always managed to handle things on my own. But I now have a medical issue that I need addressed and am asking you all for help.

My eyesight has been getting progressively worse. It is affecting many aspects of my life especially my driving. This is detrimental to my independence, my ability to take care of my personal needs, my ability to help two of my brothers get to doctors appointments, and to visit my family, especially my grandchildren. Everyone who knows me, knows how important my family is to me.

I have been to the eye surgeon, he says I have cataracts that need to be operated on as well as a pretty bad astigmatism. The cataracts causes my eyesight to be cloudy and at night causes every light to be huge starbursts.

The astigmatism causes me to see very bright slashes of light thru the starbursts. This makes it difficult for my eyes to adjust to the road at night after a car has passed and is worse if there is a car behind me as well.

I see a combination of both of these on car lights and street lights at night when I am driving.

There are three types of lens replacement. The first only corrects the cataracts and may improve my eyesight somewhat, but will not take care of the astigmatism. And I will still have to wear trifocals after the surgery. This is the only part that Medicare will pay for.

I have wore glasses all my life and I don’t mind wearing them. I should have my glasses replaced every year but can’t afford it so I usually wait two or three years before replacing them. Because my eyes are bad and I need trifocal, my lens are pretty expensive. Even with modest frames it usually cost over $500 to replace them.

The second type of lens replacement will correct the astigmatism as well as the cataracts and I probably will not need glasses at all except maybe “cheater glasses” that you get at the local drug store for reading. This surgery will cost $4,000 more than what Medicare will cover.

The third type of lens replacement will correct everything, including not ever having to wear glasses at all. This surgery will cost $6,000 more than what Medicare will cover.

I do not see any reason to have eye surgery and not have both the cataracts and the astigmatism taken care of. I don’t understand why Medicare won’t pay for the stigmatism, but it is what it is.

I would like to have the second level of surgery but cannot afford this. The out of pocket expense for this surgery is $4000, and has to paid in advance before the surgery can be done. I’ll be going to the eye surgeon soon to set the appointment for the surgery. I’m hoping to be able to get it done by the end of March. My meager Social Security is only $576 a month but I do have three small businesses that I still provide bookkeeping services for, which makes my income around $1,300 a month, which is enough to make ends meet.

So, this is why I am appealing to my family and friends to maybe help with this expense. If each of my Facebook "friends" donated only $25 each there would be enough to cover this expense. But, anything that you can afford will be greatly appreciated and even small amounts will add up. If you are not able to donate then please pray for me to have the ability to get this done. Also, if you could share my cause on your page so others that know me, but are not on my friends list, would see the need and maybe they could help as well.

And remember that Go Fund Me has a guarantee to make people accountable to use the money donated for what it is intended.