Stefan was born on 18 November 1994

He has always been very healthy and active. No problems other than the flu every now and then.

At the age of 13 (about 2½ years ago) he started complaining on a regular basis of headaches. He also complained about pain in his left eye. He took normal headache tablets, visited the GP a couple of times but all was treated with medication. This was on and off and went on for a couple of months.

Then one Saturday morning he again complained about a headache and we took him to the GP who then made an emergency appointment with Dr Beatie (eye specialist). After about 3 hours with Beatie it was clear that something seriously was wrong with Stefan's left eye. Dr Beatie could not really determine what was wrong and referred us to Dr Amod.

Stefan started seeing her and after many tests etc Dr Amod could confirm 90% that Stefan had a condition called Toxicaro (apparently a germ from a farm animal). This caused the pressure in the left eye to be high and then resulted in weak eye sight and headaches.

During 2009 Stefan then went for an operation to relieve the pressure in his eye (amod valve was implanted). Initially we thought this was successful, because for a short period of time the pressure in his eye reduced. Couple of weeks later the pressure was up again and further tests were done.

Stefan went for a MRI and lumber punch and it was determined that he might have retinoblastoma (cancer in the eye). As this was becoming more and more painful all options were considered and this resulted in his eye being removed by Dr Amod on 29 June 2009.

Further tests were then done and it was again about 90% confirmed that it was in fact cancer. Stefan had to undergo chemotherapy once a week at Red Cross Hospital and radiation implants were done to ensure no further spreading of the cancer. He had to stay in Groote Schuur hospital for 5 days in isolation.

The chemo made him very sick and he lost all of his hair during this process. At the age of 15 this was devastating and although he was very embarrassed he still went to school wearing a hat and an eye patch.

Due to the chemo treatment we could not really proceed with the prosthetic eye (Dr Amod kept us totally updated with the work that is being done by Vida Trumpelman, and this gave us hope that eventually after all of the treatment that Stefan will be able to look "normal" and adjust to his condition. Stefan was very hopeful after he saw Danie and he also looked at the pictures other children with prosthetic eyes (which Danie showed him during the first visit)

Stefan got his final chemo treatment on 13 December 2009 and on 18 December 2009 Danie fitted his eye. This was a wonderful day for Stefan as he could see that the eye can move, left to right, down and up and he realized that it almost looked normal. He was very doubtful before, so having the eye fitted just before Christmas, made our holiday a real blessing. As it was school holidays he also had time to adjust before going back to school in January 2010.

Although Stefan did not tell everyone at school that he lost his eye (he kept on that he had several operations but never told then he actually lost his eye), he did tell a few of his close friends and when he went back to school his friends could not believe that it is a prosthetic (fake) eye.

They were amazed and kept on telling Stefan that they cannot see the difference. This obviously build up Stefan's confidence and he went from strength to strength daily.

Since then Stefan has been back to Danie on a couple of occasions to enhance the movement of the eye and some cosmetic changes are still underway.

During August 2010 Stefan had to go back for an operation which again put him back about 5 weeks where he could not wear his prosthesis. We kept him at home during this time and got his home work delivered. He then saw Danie again and more work was done on his eye - adjustment after the operation.

Stefan's life has changed drastically in the last 3 years and with the work that Danie and Vida performs gave him back his confidence to feel normal and not like a "freak" (as he would say it).

Stefan is now on the road to recovery and he has accepted that he will always need to keep a watchful eye on his prosthesis. He can insert and remove the eye himself, he keeps it clean and is very proud of the work done by Danie. Family, friends etc are all amazed at this and many comment that it is absolutely amazing work as if you did not know then you would never notice the difference in his eyes.

We can only say thank you to Danie and Vida for making such a difference in not only Stefan's life but so many other people.

We give thanks to God and trust in Him as always.

Carol Schwartz