Reuven George (11) wants to be an astronaut when he grows up, but if he can’t do that, he wants to help build a spacecraft.
“I’ll start at Nasa and become an astronaut. Then I’ll launch my own space programme,” the Randpark Ridge youngster beamed during an interview with Randburg Sun.
“Just like Elon Musk did with SpaceX.”
But Reuven is slowly going blind and the medical costs required to treat his condition are too much for his family to handle alone.
That is why they launched a BackaBuddy page with the goal to raise R200 000 in fundraising.
“His glasses were made overseas because of the difficult prescription but now just two years later he needs a new pair,” explained his mom, Catherine Stain.
“This is just the tip of the payments, there will be much more to pay down the line.”
During a routine eye examination three years ago, it was discovered that Reuven might possibly have intracranial pressure in his brain that is putting an enormous amount of pressure on his optical cords which affects his eyesight.
His family was advised to take him for further testing, including an MRI and lumbar puncture, but so far they could not afford these.
It has been predicted that on his current trajectory he might be legally blind in the next few years.
The community has been urged to help raise funds, which will go toward two new pairs of glasses, refraction eye testing, neurologist consultations, a lumbar puncture and an MRI.
Then, Reuven might need surgery to release the pressure on the brain through a brain stent implant.
All medical bill payments will be kept and provided to any person that requests it, the family said.
The BackaBuddy page is called Saving Reuven’s Eyesite and is found here.
