Malvina Salinas

Malvina is a young mom, 35, with two small children. She discovered she had Keratoconus after going to her eye doctor because she was struggling to see charts and documents at her job in accounting. Her left eye was far worse than her right, so in November 2016 she had a cornea transplant. The procedure went very well, and she was seeing again.

Unfortunately in May 2017, Malvina suffered a trauma while cleaning out her kitchen pantry. A pan hit her left eyelid, causing the cornea to tear. She underwent an emergency cornea transplant. There was so much damage to the entire eye, the cornea failed during the healing process. She received another transplant in October 2017 and is currently experiencing difficulty healing once again. The surgeon believes it to be because the eye has experienced so much shock in a short period of time.  She will continue to work with her surgeon to do what they can to restore her vision. She has partial vision in her right eye and relies on it to do all the work.

Despite her complications and struggles, Malvina has a positive outlook and thinks things happen for a reason. “I have been through a lot, but I shouldn’t be complaining or whining because other people are suffering worse than I am. I still have my health and partial sight. I am grateful for the donors that have helped me. Without the donors, I wouldn’t even have a chance.”