IG model Gena Tew reveals she is blind again after failed eye surgery following HIV diagnosis
MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE: Social media celebrity Gena Tew, who disclosed weeks ago that she was diagnosed with HIV, recently revealed that she has gone completely blind in one eye following a failed eye surgery.
The 27-year-old Instagram model underwent a procedure in Memphis, Tennessee, last August to regain some of the vision she lost. But her regained vision lasted for just 5 days and then started acting up again. Now, speaking to TMZ, Tew revealed that she's completely blind in that eye for a second time and all she can see is pitch-black darkness.
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She said the doctors have prescribed her new medicines but the drugs are only making her sick and weak. Doctors are also considering another surgery on her left eye, but no decision has been made as of yet. However, she is making progress in several other areas. Tew added that she has gained some healthy weight going from 90 lbs to 105 lbs. She is also using a walker to gradually regain her ability to walk.
Gina, who has more than 95.8k followers on Instagram, publicly acknowledged her diagnosis in July when she published multiple TikTok videos about her disease. She said she was sick and on the edge of death when doctors made the shocking revelation. They told her that she had been living with it for approximately eight to 10 years. “In that time frame, I was living in New York City and was homeless,” she said in a TikTok video. “I did get raped a couple of times but it’s not something I like to talk about, I have had a couple of free tattoos, so it could have been a dirty needle, I don’t know. Do I know any one of those people? No. Did I say anything when those things happened? No. Because I was naïve and I was stupid and I was young.”
The shocking diagnosis led to other ailments as well. Gena then contracted cytomegalovirus retinitis, which causes vision loss and blindness in patients with AIDS. It is one of the AIDS-defining illnesses. “I got so weak in the first days of knowing I had AIDS… I could barely focus and strained to talk,” Gena said in one of her videos.
But she didn’t lose hope and kept battling the vicious disease. She has now become an inspiration for other young people who are diagnosed with the HIV virus. Gena told TMZ she is still receiving tons of support online, including a donation from R&B singer Ari Lennox via her GoFundMe page. Her page has already raised more than $16.5k out of her $75,000 goal.