Calgary company offers to fund operation to prevent 3-year-old Ontario boy from going blind

Little Liam Reid suffers from Norrie's disease, an inherited eye disorder that leads to blindness in male infants at birth or shortly thereafter. The 3-year-old Ontario tot has already lost his sight in his right eye.

His family's only hope at saving Liam's left eye involves surgeries only available in the United States. If Liam doesn't have the sight-saving procedure soon, he'll be totally blind by his fourth birthday.

Here's the problem: the Ontario government refused to fund the surgeries in the States, even though it paid for similar procedures for another Ontario child south of the border. The Reid's have been fighting for the funding for three years.

Now, just in time, a Calgary company has generously offered to cover costs for the family.

Moved by the Reid's story, Marcus Maguire, senior vice-president of AGAT Laboratories, pitched the idea of covering Liam's expenses — $45,000 plus any future medical bills — to AGAT.

Maguire was only 10 or 11 when the Alberta government paid for him to have life-saving heart surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Now, he's paying that forward.

Liam's mother, Kristina, said they'll accept the offer if the Ontario government fails to step up with the funds in time.

"We hope to have long-term care and we don't want to keep having AGAT foot the bill. We have to do what is best in the long-run," Kristina told the Toronto Star.

This week, Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty said that it's the province's responsibility to see that Liam gets the care he needs:

"If we can't guarantee, to Liam, that he's going to get great-quality care here, in the province of Ontario, we've got a responsibility to fund that care elsewhere," McGuinty said.

"I definitely have hope. Could it be over? Could I finally get back to my family? I won't be convinced until I get that official notification from the ministry," Kristina responded to McGuinty's statement. "We are beaming today. Maybe we're even a little bit closer to an end to this three-year nightmare."

If the Ontario government does pay for the procedures, AGAT will donate the $45,000 they offered to the Canadian Institute for the Blind.

As for the Reid's, they can now focus on getting their son the care he needs at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal York, Michigan.

"Regardless of what happens we have the funding," Kristina said.