Not A Dry Eye Foundation has created a GoFundMe project to benefit a European medical school graduate named Agnieszka. We need your help to make the project a success.
Agnieszka is a 25-year-old who attended a top medical university in Poland with tuition paid for by the Polish government. She graduated as a Doctor of Medicine in May 2023 despite unrelenting Dry Eye disease. Agnieszka must now begin 13-months of on-the-job training in a clinic hospital to continue on this rigorous career path.
For her, the challenge, though welcome, is also daunting. Because of severe eye pain, constant burning, grittiness, and foreign body sensations in her eyes, sensitivity to light, and dry eyes, she wonders how she will endure for 13-months let alone embark on her career. Nevertheless, she hopes to become an ophthalmologist so she can one day help people like herself suffering with debilitating eye pain caused by Dry Eye, Meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD), and other comorbidities. But to get Agnieszka to that goal, we need your help.
Agnieszka has already travelled all over Europe seeking care from some 20 ophthalmologists. She’s been diagnosed with aqueous tear deficiency and MGD. She’s been prescribed many treatments. But her doctors could not improve her condition or provide lasting relief for her symptoms.
That’s why we think it’s time to bring Agnieszka to the United States to see Dr. Steven L. Maskin, so she can be examined thoroughly, diagnosed accurately, and prescribed targeted treatments that make sense for her. Dr. Maskin is a world-class ophthalmologist who treats the most difficult cases of Dry Eye and MGD following protocols that he has perfected in over 30 years of practice.
You can go now to our GoFundMe site to see Agnieszka’s video and listen to her describe her situation in her own words and why she is so desperate to travel to Tampa, Florida.
Feel free to share this blog and GoFundMe link with friends, family and on social media. That would be wonderful. If your financial position allows you to donate, so much the better. Please do what you can to help Agnieszka receive the care she desperately needs.
Henry Harlow
Dry Eye Patient
Patient Advocate, Not A Dry Eye Foundation