{"id":2862,"date":"2025-04-14T09:05:28","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T09:05:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/albotips.com\/?p=2862"},"modified":"2025-04-14T09:05:28","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T09:05:28","slug":"toddlers-eye-melts-away-after-wrong-person-kissed-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/albotips.com\/?p=2862","title":{"rendered":"Toddler\u2019s eye \u201dmelts away\u201d after wrong person kissed him"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Parent\u2019s Worst Nightmare: Toddler Nearly Loses Eye After Herpes Infection<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most parents have seen their kids suffer from the occasional eye infection \u2014 but Michelle Saaiman\u2019s experience was far worse.<\/p>\n

In August, she noticed something unusual in her 16-month-old son Juwan\u2019s eye. When antibiotics didn\u2019t help, doctors made a shocking diagnosis: Juwan had contracted herpes simplex virus (HSV), likely from a kiss by someone with an active cold sore.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt like an April Fool\u2019s joke,\u201d Michelle told Metro<\/em>. But the virus had caused severe damage. Juwan lost all vision in the affected eye, which began to deteriorate \u2014 developing a hole and drying out completely. Doctors feared he might lose the eye altogether.<\/p>\n

Desperate to save it, the family flew to Cape Town where Juwan had amnion graft surgery. His eyelids were stitched shut to protect the cornea, and another major surgery is planned to transfer nerves from his leg to his eye, in hopes of a future cornea transplant.<\/p>\n

Despite the pain, Juwan has stayed brave. \u201cHe\u2019s always had a smile,\u201d Michelle said, though the journey has been heartbreaking. The couple initially felt anger toward the person who unknowingly passed the virus but acknowledged it likely wasn\u2019t intentional.<\/p>\n

The Saaimans have faced weeks of procedures and uncertainty, fearing the virus could spread to Juwan\u2019s brain or other eye. While the infection is now somewhat controlled, the damage is permanent.<\/p>\n

Michelle is now raising awareness about the dangers of cold sores around children, urging people to be cautious \u2014 even with gestures of love like a kiss.<\/p>\n

A fundraiser has been launched to help with ongoing treatment costs. \u201cWe\u2019re doing everything we can to save our son\u2019s eye,\u201d Michelle shared.<\/p>\n

Juwan\u2019s story is a powerful reminder of how serious a simple virus can be \u2014 and the strength of one little boy fighting through it all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Parent\u2019s Worst Nightmare: Toddler Nearly Loses Eye After Herpes Infection Most parents have seen their kids suffer from the occasional eye infection \u2014 but Michelle Saaiman\u2019s experience was far worse. In August, she noticed something unusual in her 16-month-old son Juwan\u2019s eye. When antibiotics didn\u2019t help, doctors made a shocking diagnosis: Juwan had contracted…<\/p>\n

Read More “Toddler\u2019s eye \u201dmelts away\u201d after wrong person kissed him”<\/span> »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/albotips.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/albotips.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/albotips.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/albotips.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/albotips.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2862"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/albotips.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2863,"href":"https:\/\/albotips.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2862\/revisions\/2863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/albotips.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/albotips.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/albotips.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}