Snowy McDonald

I'm told that Snowy McDonald's joyful smile was a sight to behold when he laid eyes on his beloved MacDonnell Ranges once again.

At 80 years of age, Snowy is one of the last old-style stockmen. He wears his battered Akubra hat and his riding boots with pride. He can no longer swing his leg over a horse but regales his grandchildren with stories of life in the saddle.

Until his recent eye operation, his ageing vision no longer stretched to the distant hills and he never thought he would hunt kangaroos and emus again.

Snowy's sight had deteriorated to what he described as a cloudy ‘soup', the result of a blockage in the passageways that form the cleaning system of his eye.

Snowy was among the first recipients of a special eye health blitz that was part of The Central Australian Eye Health Program, kicked off in June of this year by The Fred Hollows Foundation and our partners.

This ambitious project is no small task. With an area covering 1.6 million square kilometres and an aim to restore sight to 350 people, this program is geographically one of the largest integrated eye health programs in the world.

The first forty-one patients, from six outlying communities and Alice Springs, were treated during the first phase of the blitz in June, among them Snowy's wife Martha, who was operated on for cataracts.

Working with our partner organisations, we picked up Snowy, Martha and around 40 or so others living in remote communities that needed operations.

We drove them to Alice Springs Hospital, organised accommodation in the lodge close to the hospital, took them to their appointments and drove them home afterwards.

It's not as straightforward as it sounds.

Some of these people have never been to hospital in their lives. Some are afraid. They think we are going to take their eyes out, so we have to reassure them and build trust. Often a cup of tea and a chat is a pretty good way to start.

The surgery itself is done in the using the existing eye surgeon and a team of health professionals and surgeons brought in from hospitals around the country by The Fred Hollows Foundation and our partners - the Eye Foundation, The Federal and Territory Governments, and the local Indigenous health organizations - Central Australian Aboriginal Congress and Anyinginyi Health Aboriginal Corporation.

Without the generosity of our supporters we could never take this level of action and people like Snowy might never have their sight restored.

We urgently need to raise another $500,000 for our work in Aboriginal communities and to save the sight of people in the 20 other countries in which we currently work. I hope you can help. 

This is just one example of how practical help can dramatically improve Indigenous health. We have so many other programs that have similar impacts, and you can read about them elsewhere on this website.

I would be immensely grateful if you were able to make a special gift at this time to save the sight of people here in Australia, like Snowy, and around the world. Gabi Hollows