“My daughter Kiyana is a lively, fun-loving little girl. Thanks to SeeAbility, she can now see me and the world more clearly.” Dee, Kiyana’s mother

Meet eleven-year-old Kiyana. Kiyana was born prematurely and diagnosed with Down’s syndrome, a genetic condition that causes her to have a higher risk of developing problems with her vision.

“When we visited the opticians, they told us that Kiyana is longsighted and needed to wear glasses to see clearly. They gave us a prescription and told us to visit any eye test shop who will be able to do the glasses for us."

Despite visiting many high street opticians and being prescribed with glasses, Kiyana still struggled to see clearly, as the regular frames didn’t fit her properly and constantly slipped off her face.

A tailored fit

Thanks to SeeAbility’s eye care team, who regularly provide eye tests in special schools such as the one Kiyana attends, they were able to prescribe Kiyana with specially fitted glasses with an adjustable bridge that fits perfectly on her nose. Now, Kiyana can finally live the active life that means so much to her.

Her mum Dee says:

“She’s a different girl and is so much more confident now. You’ll find her in the gym crawling down a tunnel, playing ping-pong with her friends or jumping around on the trampoline. I feel a sense of relief that SeeAbility was able to help us. Kiyana can now play around in a way any child should and I feel real peace of mind knowing that we’ve been able to support her to live the very best life she can.”

From all at SeeAbility, thank you so much to everyone who watched and supported our BBC Lifeline Appeal. If you missed it, you can still watch it on BBC iPlayer.