Teen still faces consequences after losing an eye in 2017

It has been three years since the tragic incident for Actonville resident Getash Sheonarayan who lost his left eye due to a fire cracker, and to date, he is still facing the consequences.

October 18, 2017 was already a sad time for the then 11-year-old learner as it was Diwali and his father, who celebrated with him every year, had died earlier that year.

To put a smile on her children’s faces, his mother, Prabashnee Pillay, thought it would be a treat to take Getash and his sister, Manissha Sheonarayan, to watch the fireworks display in Actonville and then go to their uncle for supper.

However, as they approached Ajmery Court on foot, where their uncle lives, someone threw a firecracker at Getash, who was walking with Manissha behind their mother.

Pillay told the City Times in 2017 that she never saw who threw the firecracker and assumed it came from someone in the nearby flat, but all she heard was Getash screaming.

“When I turned around I saw his eye was bleeding,” she said.

She opened a case at the Actonville Police Station and to date said she was told the case is still under investigation.

The City Times is also awaiting for a response from the police regarding the progress of the case.

The youngster is now in Grade Six and says he is still learning how to cope with only having sight in one eye.

“The children do not tease me at school, but everyone asks what happened to my eye,” he said.

Pillay said since the incident, it has been a rocky road for the now 14-year-old.

• He underwent three operations

• The first was to stitch the top of the eye

• The second was for fat grafting to place fat into the socket of the eye

• The third was to place a spacer between the brain and the eye.

• He spent eight months in hospital due to organ failure.

• He suffered from internal bleeding.

• He also repeated Grade Four due to being out of school for eight months

“All three operations were done at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital,” Pillay explained.

“Initially, he was taken to Tambo Memorial Hospital but they wanted to stitch the eye closed due to everything in the socket being burnt out.

“I said no and asked for a second opinion; he was then airlifted to Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital where he went in for the first two operations.

“He was bleeding through his ears and mouth, and due to him being fed blood, the doctors could not immediately place where the blood was coming from.

“The fat in his eye kept pushing out and when I took him back, they realised he had internal bleeding, that was when the spacer was placed.”

Pillay said the fat formed a layer in the eye which has now become a hard white covering.

“We are still waiting for an individual eye,” she desperately said.

“We have been waiting since 2017; I do not want anyone to tease him growing up.”

Getash now lives with his sister in Actonville on the days he attends school, and then, with his mother in Sandton when he is not at school.

“We used to visit the hospital frequently, waiting for his individual eye until January this year when the doctor told us that there is a waiting list and we will be called when there is an individual eye available for Getash.”

Pillay’s only request is to give the youngster an individual eye, whether it is from Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital or being referred to another hospital that can provide one for him.

“He will never have sight in the left eye, but at least the individual eye helps to hold the place in the socket instead of stitching the eyelids together,” she explained.

Since the 2017 incident, Getash has not celebrated Diwali.

The youngster said that it was not easy because he had to learn to see through one eye only after having full vision for 11 years.

“It is not easy, but it is getting easier to cope with,” the hopeful teen said.

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