Sensitive Content: Nyakach woman fights to see again after devastating eye disease strikes
Ms Quinter Atieno (inset) from Rae village in Nyakach is quietly fighting blinding disease. Her mother, Ms Millicent Adhiambo is hopeful that her daughter will recover. Photo/AVDelta
For most of her childhood, Quinter Atieno from Rae village in Nyakach lived like any other girl--running errands, playing in the fields, and helping her mother with chores.
But as she entered her teenage years, a slow, painful darkness began to creep into her world.
What started as mild irritation in her eyes has, over the years, grown into a severe and disfiguring condition that now threatens to steal her sight completely
Today, Atieno is 26 years old. Her eyes are swollen, deep red, and painfully protruding.
The soft tissue around them has expanded so dramatically that her eyelids can no longer close.
Her right eye bulges outward, exposed to dust and infection, leaving her in constant, burning pain.
She often sits quietly in the corner of their small grass-thatched home, one hand shielding her face from the light that worsens her agony.
Her mother, Millicent Adhiambo, watches helplessly.
“She was born a very healthy child,” Adhiambo says softly.
“I never imagined we would reach this point, walking from one hospital to another without answers.”
The family first sought treatment at Sabatia Eye Hospital, hopeful that specialists could identify the cause.
Instead, the condition worsened.
For nearly a decade, the family has moved from clinic to clinic, surviving on painkillers, borrowed fare, and the kindness of neighbours.
Every visit ends the same way. No clear diagnosis, no lasting relief.
Yet Adhiambo, a widowed peasant farmer, refuses to give up.
Her life revolves around caring for her daughter and two other children.
Their home leaks when it rains, and most days she struggles even to provide food.
Still, she remains determined.
“Her eyes are blocking, dimming, and the pain is too much,” she says.
“I appeal to well-wishers to help my child before she loses her sight forever.”
Despite her struggle, Atieno’s spirit remains unbroken.
She trained as a knitter before her condition worsened, and on good days she still picks up her tools, feeling the familiar patterns with her fingertips.
It is one of the few things that give her hope.
“I just want to be able to see,” she told journalists.
“I want to work and support my family.”
The family has recently returned to Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH) in Kisumu--which was recently elevated to the national referral status--where doctors have scheduled more tests next week.
But uncertainty hangs over them as medical officers have yet to determine the exact cause of the illness, and specialised treatment may be required.
For Adhiambo, the idea of taking her daughter to India for advanced care feels like a distant dream.
She survives on small-scale farming and can barely afford transport to Kisumu, let alone international medical bills.
“It pains me as a mother,” she says.
“I am afraid of losing her sight. I ask anyone who hears our story to help us.”
In Rae village, neighbours speak of Atieno with admiration.
They describe her as gentle, hardworking, and brave--a young woman whose resilience has become both an inspiration and a heartbreak to those around her.
Her story is a reminder of the quiet battles many families face. The struggle for health care, the weight of poverty, and the hope that somehow, someone will step in before it is too late.
For now, Atieno waits--her world dimming, her pain unrelenting, but her hope much alive.
She dreams of waking up one day without the burning sensation in her eyes, of seeing her mother’s face clearly again, and of returning to the simple joys that her condition has stolen from her.
“I believe I can be healed,” she says.
“I just need help."
