YouTuber MrBeast Pays For Life-Changing Surgery For 1,000 Blind People
By Movieguide® Contributor
YouTube star MrBeast, who has 130 million subscribers on his main channel, recently used his platform to change the lives of 1,000 people.
In a recent video, MrBeast—whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson—paid for 1,000 blind and near-blind people to have cataract removal surgery.
“We’re curing a thousand people’s blindness,” the YouTuber said in the video.
The video showed before-and-after clips of patients seeing clearly after the surgeries, which were done by Jeff Levenson, an ophthalmologist and surgeon.
“Half of all blindness in the world is people who need a 10-minute surgery,” Levenson explained.
Levenson himself underwent cataract correction surgery and, after seeing firsthand how life-changing the procedure was, decided to help others with the same problem.
Through his “Gift of Sight” program, Levenson has performed this surgery for free for uninsured patients over the last 20 years.
Donaldson reached out to Levenson last year about this project. They started calling homeless shelters and free clinics to compile a list of patients who needed the surgery — around 40 in all.
Levenson shared that patients were in “disbelief that somebody would actually seek them out to rescue them from blindness, and then have the kindness and generosity of spirit to offer the surgery.”
He helped connect Donaldson with SEE International, a nonprofit that provides free eye care to people around the world. Through SEE International, the YouTuber was able to reach even more people and help complete 1,000 surgeries in around three weeks.
Levenson shared that he hopes Donaldson’s video can inspire others to lend a hand and “end needless blindness.”
“If MrBeast can light a fire, and if we can get governmental and private support behind it, we can end half of all the blindness in the world,” he explained. “Without all that much cost, and with incredible gains in human productivity and human potential.”
Watch the full video below:
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