Warning: This page contains photos of a surgical procedure.

On the 16th November a young Western Grey kangaroo joey was brought to Roo Gully.
His mother had been shot and killed the night before.

Worse still we noticed he was blind in his right eye.
We named him Nelson.

Nelson was taken to Perth by 2 friends of Roo Gully, who are also wildlife carers,
and on Monday 24th November he had an appointment with Dr. Rob Harris,
a Veterinary Ophthalmic surgeon, at Mount Lawley & Inglewood Vet Centre.

Thankfully Nelson has perfect vision in his left eye,
and because the cataract in his right eye was caused by trauma
there was a 90 to 95% chance of surgery being successful,
giving him perfect vision for the rest of his life.

Nelson is a very gentle and loving young roo,
and we felt he deserved the chance of a normal life.
So we booked him in for cataract surgery on the 8th December,
and posted an appeal on this web site to help pay for it.

Although Nelson was slow to recover
from the anaesthetic the actual surgery went well.

This photo was taken through a microscope,
and is a magnified view of the lens and cataract.

And the cataract is removed.

Roo Gully agreed to pay for the treatment
which could have been as much as Au$2,200.00.

And we sincerely thank Dr. Rob Harris who performed the surgery
for reducing his fee, so the final amount was Au$1,800.00.

A HUGE thank you to everyone who donated towards Nelson's surgery
because donations covered the entire cost!!!

On behalf of Nelson we would like to thank many people.

We send a HUGE and very sincere thanks to Catherine and Alan Carr in Perth
who are terrific supporters of our work and also wonderful and very experienced carers.
Cath and Alan have cared for Nelson in the weeks before his surgery,
and in his post operative recovery period.
.We thank you both enormously for your commitment, time and love you have given Nelson.
He could not have had a better 'mum and dad' during this time.

We also thank Veronica Peck, a Veterinary Science student at Murdoch University
who carried out her practical experience with us recently,
for her help in obtaining the initial appointment with Dr. Rob Harris
and for looking after Nelson during his actual surgery and stay at the Veterinary Hospital.

BIG thanks go to Dr. Rob Harris for using his veterinary skills in helping
one young roo to have the chance of regaining full vision in both eyes,
and also to all the staff at the Mount Lawley & Inglewood Vet Centre.

Nelson had his follow up appointment on 15th December
and Dr. Rob was pleased to inform everyone that the surgery was successful.
Nelson now has a clear pupil and cornea, and a fully functional retina.

Because Nelson can live out his life as nature intended
we decided it was in his best interests to go directly to the place
where he will be eventually released back into the wild.

One very lucky young roo owes you all so much!

We will update Nelson's Tale, and post more pics of his new life at Lovelands, soon.