EL SALVADOR – Every day for a year, 8-year-old Steven endured painful, red eyes.

“It felt [like] sand got into my eyes,” Steven said. “From that day on they hurt and I couldn’t open them the whole way.”

His mother, who is raising the boy alone, took him to the clinic—but despite being prescribed medicine, his condition did not improve.

Steven’s mom works selling food and bread, making just $3 a day. She managed to buy eye drops a few times, but nothing relieved the itching, swelling and pain.

And the pain didn’t just stop with his eyes. Kids at school began to avoid him—afraid they might get Steven’s “disease.”

“The kids teased me and called me names,” Steven said.

But name-calling wasn’t what concerned him the most. “I thought I would go blind and that made me feel sad,” Steven said.

Desperate to find an answer to her son’s illness, Steven’s mom heard about an Operation Blessing medical campaign coming to their town. They were seen by a doctor who immediately referred them to a specialist.

“The doctor told me that without the proper treatment, Steven could have developed a tumor or even blindness. For me it was very hard to hear,” his mom said.

Operation Blessing paid for the doctor visit, the required steroids and anti-inflammatory drugs, and even some vitamins to boost Steven’s immune system.

Almost immediately, the medicines began to work, and Steven’s eyes got better.

“I feel much better—no pain, no itching, no more problems!” Steven said. “Thank you Operation Blessing for healing my eyes! I am very happy.”