It’s a parent’s worst nightmare.
Twenty-seven weeks pregnant and on her way to pick up her 11-year-old daughter from École Glenbrook Middle School, Arlene Casimiro got a call from staff notifying her her daughter Juliana had been injured in an accident. When she arrived at the school, she found her daughter crying, but there was no visible injury. No blood. Nothing.
“When I saw my daughter, I thought it wasn’t that bad. So I said, ‘OK, don’t cry’; she was crying and crying. So I said let’s go to emergency,” Casimiro said.
She was told her daughter was hit in her right eye with a pen that bounced off a locker, apparently thrown by another student.
Casimiro and her daughter went by ambulance to Royal Columbian Hospital and then to Children’s Hospital where Juliana was rushed into surgery.
“(The pen sliced) her cornea, a part of the iris was cut off and her lens was detached,” she recalled. “While waiting for her surgery, I broke my bag of water and then had a premature baby at 27 weeks.”
The accident happened on Oct. 6. Four days later, Casimiro gave birth to a 2.56-pound baby. The baby girl was transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit at Royal Columbia Hospital and on Dec. 23, she was allowed to go home. She is now about 12 pounds, Casimiro said proudly.
But the whole thing has been quite an ordeal for the Casimiro family of six.
“My daughter, unfortunately, is unable to see because of the accident,” she said.
Juliana has had to go back to Children’s Hospital a few times for followup appointments. She still has a suture in her cornea, which will have to be removed, and she’ll have to have a lens inserted eventually, too. She will also need a cornea transplant and cosmetic surgery to repair her iris.
“If you see her, you won’t see the difference, except her eyes are not aligned right now,” Casimiro said.
Despite there being no guarantees Juliana will ever see out of her right eye again, she is in good spirits, her mom said.
“I ask her how is she feeling, and she says, ‘I’m OK mom, I’m OK.’ She’s very, very nice. She’s not a complainer. I think she’s even stronger than me. Like I’m always crying, she never cries,” she said.
The Glenbrook parent advisory council has started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for Juliana.
The donations will be used to pay for her cosmetic surgery and to cover the costs of any future supports and services she may need. The goal is to raise $15,000, which would be put into a trust for Juliana.
“I just want her to get her eyesight back,” Casimiro said.
So far, the fundraiser has collected $4,120 in donations. To donate, go to www.gofundme.com/JulianaEyeFund.
The New Westminster school district has insurance in case of accidents on school property. It’s unknown if any of Juliana’s care will be paid by the district’s coverage.
