Two parents expressed profound gratitude to a team at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai (NYEE) for kindly and skillfully supporting them through their baby daughter’s cataract surgeries and difficult recovery.
Mia Alvarez was born on March 17, 2020. While her parents took joy in welcoming their new daughter, they were met with unexpected news, Mia was born with congenital cataracts in both eyes. The news was a blow to both parents, who are legally blind. Hereditary cataracts are rare in babies and require immediate surgery (within 6 to 8 weeks of age) in order to allow the eye sight to develop normally. With COVID-19 cases rising and all elective surgeries canceled across NYC hospitals, Kristal and Alex Alvarez had little time to digest the news, but immediately focused on finding the best pediatric ophthalmologist to perform Mia’s vision-saving surgery.
On the recommendation of their pediatrician at Mount Sinai, Kristal and Alex went to NYEE to see Douglas Fredrick, MD, Chief of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus for the Mount Sinai Health System. “We believed Dr. Fredrick could give our daughter the best chance of having good eyesight as she got older,” says Kristal.
The days leading up to the operation were trying. Kristal and Alex had to navigate Medicaid to obtain approvals, a difficult task as New York State programs were grappling with COVID-19 shutdown orders and working remotely. But Dr. Fredrick and his team worked with Kristal and Alex to help clear the Medicaid hurdles. And due to visitor restrictions, only one of them would be allowed at the surgery at a time. But the team went above and beyond to support the couple and ensure everything went smoothly.
Mia’s surgery, performed in April, was successful. However, Kristal and Alex were faced with another challenge: following a strict post-op regime of administering eye drops, three times a day, into Mia’s eyes. Despite their own vision limitations, they learned to deliver the drops and insert tiny contact lenses in her eyes, cleaning and replacing them. “Knowing our challenges, Dr. Fredrick offered to have us come in every week so that he could change the lenses,” recalled Alex, “but we knew we had to find a way to change them on our own.”
Just as the family thought they were out of the woods, Mia faced a setback. During an exam, Dr. Fredrick discovered that secondary cataracts had developed. Although not uncommon, this required a follow-up procedure. Once again, Dr. Fredrick and his team worked with Kristal and Alex to help clear the Medicaid hurdles, and Mia successfully underwent her second surgery in June.
Kristal and Alex greatly appreciated the extraordinary support and care demonstrated by Dr. Fredrick and the NYEE team. “Mia received the best care possible, and Dr. Fredrik went above and beyond to help us through every step of the process,” Kristal says. “One day we ran out of eye drops, and he personally dropped off the eye drops at our home. What doctor does that?” She adds, “The entire team was patient, kind, supportive, and reassuring throughout the process, and the hospital implemented special safety precautions every step of the way. We were always very confident everything possible was being done to protect our health,” says Kristal.
Mia continues to heal well, and Dr. Fredrick says she has a good chance of developing 20/40 vision when she gets older. “Being able to share the burden and fear of vision loss with new parents and replacing that with hope for a future of clear vision for their child”, he says, “is one of the most gratifying parts of our profession.”
Kristal is ecstatic.“20/40 vision—that is almost perfect. We are excited that Mia can now grow and experience life like most children, without limits.”