1,000 People Receive Cataract Surgery Thanks To This Millionaire YouTube Star

Famous Youtuber MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, has paid 1,000 blind people to get cataract surgeries to restore their sight.  

On Saturday, Donaldson released a video about a thousand people getting cataracts removed with the help of the non-profit eye care organization See International.

"We're curing a thousand people's blindness," Donaldson said in the video, which had already received 45 million views by Monday morning.

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The video shows before-and-after footage of patients seeing with clear vision after finishing the surgery. The video shows that the patients were from Jamaica, Honduras, Namibia, Mexico, Indonesia, Brazil, Vietnam, and Kenya.

According to CNN, ophthalmologist and surgeon Jeff Levenson worked with Donaldson to perform the surgeries in Jacksonville, Florida.

Levenson has coordinated the "Gift of Sight" program for over 20 years, providing patients with free cataract surgery.

"Half of all blindness in the world is people who need a 10-minute surgery," said Dr. Levenson in the video. 

He told CNN: "In the days and weeks after my own cataract surgery, I was stunned by how bright and beautiful and vivid the world was."

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 "But I was shocked by the idea that there are hundreds of millions, probably 200 million people around the world, who are blind or nearly blind from cataracts and who don't have access to the surgery," he added. 

"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," Levenson said.

Donaldson's YouTube channel has close to 130 million subscribers. According to a report by Forbes, Donaldson has made an estimated $54 million in 2021. 

Photo: Fidias via Wikimedia Commons