SEE’s recent collaboration with YouTube star Jimmy Donaldson, known as MrBeast, was the greatest public education campaign about cataracts in the history of the world. Together, we have changed the conversation about preventable blindness forever.
MrBeast is considered the most influential YouTube star on the planet, with over 130 million subscribers! Recently, SEE teamed up with MrBeast in the production of his latest video “1000 Blind People See for the First Time.”
The video, seen below, highlights MrBeast’s support of charitable cataract surgery and features inspiring before-and-after footage of patients who have had their sight restored. It’s reached over 100 million views so far, inspiring new audiences all over the world.
SEE’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Jeffrey Levenson, worked with MrBeast to perform the first round of surgeries in Jacksonville, Florida. SEE then coordinated international programs for Mr. Beast’s team to reach individuals in Jamaica, Honduras, Namibia, Mexico, Indonesia, Brazil, Vietnam, and Kenya. Through this collaboration, a total of 1,000 sight-restoring surgeries were completed around the world in just three weeks.
In the video, Dr. Levenson discusses the need to address the global issue of treatable cataracts, a condition where the eye’s natural lens becomes clouded: “Half of all blindness in the world is people who need a 10-minute surgery,” he said. “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.”
Since the launch of this video, SEE and Dr. Levenson have been featured by CNN, PEOPLE, IAPB, The Florida Times-Union, The Ophthalmologist, and the Physicians Off the Beaten Path Podcast. We encourage you to check them out!
This has been an incredible opportunity for our organization that has brought awareness about the global need for eyecare to an entirely new audience. It was such an honor to work with MrBeast and his team, we are so grateful for their endless generosity and dedication to supporting our sight-restoring efforts!
