Luzimar, a patient at the Barraquer Foundation

30/07/2024

Luzimar came to Catalonia from Brazil in 2006 with the desire to improve her working life.

She tells us that she always had difficulty seeing and remembers having trouble reading at school, but she never wore glasses. In 2008, she went to an optician for the first time and since then, she has always worn contact lenses.

Over the years, the contact lenses caused her injuries and a lot of discomfort, “I felt as if I had constant grit, as if there was a razor blade in my eyes, and the light became unbearable.” For a time, Luzimar lived confined to her room, enduring three long months during which she could not go outside due to the discomfort in her eyes. She especially remembers one day when she had a very bad time and went to see an emergency doctor at a hospital. She could not see an ophthalmologist because there was no specialist available, but they gave her some ointment. She felt totally helpless and abandoned.

Even today, when Luzimar thinks about those months, she laments: “I had no life. I couldn’t see anything, neither up close nor far away. I couldn’t go out during the day, only in the evening because the light didn’t allow me to open my eyes.”

A few months ago she went back to an optician in Lleida and the optometrist who saw her told her about the Barraquer Foundation. A week after her visit to the optician, they contacted the foundation. After studying her case with the medical team, reviewing the documentation, and meeting with the foundation’s staff, Luzimar visited the Barraquer Ophthalmology Centre. Luzimar and her husband Jordi knew the centre because Jordi’s mother had visited it many years ago, but they had never been patients. Since then, her life has changed a lot. Luzimar has had surgery and continues with her regular check-ups. There is still a long way to go.

Every time she goes to the centre, she feels the affection of the personalised and familiar treatment she receives at Barraquer from all the professionals who treat her. She fondly remembers Gabriel, the receptionist who so kindly attended to her on the first day when she felt lost. She also remembers the team of doctors who have treated her, Dr. Lamarca, Dr. Ríos, the doctors' nurses and secretaries, Eloi from the Contact Lens Department, Victoria and Pilar from the Testing team, Jesús, the optometrist, and the staff at the Barraquer Foundation. She says the same thing about all of them: “It seems like I've known them for a long time. They are excellent professionals and dedicated people. We weren't used to being treated with so much affection, and they have changed our lives and those of our families, and for that we will always be grateful.”.