YouTube superstar MrBeast is committed to making a difference.
In his latest move, the 24-year-old content creator, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, embarked on a campaign to pay for the cataract removal for 1,000 people who were blind or near-blind but could not afford the surgery.
"We're curing a thousand people's blindness," Donaldson said in a video released Saturday, which shows touching before and after interviews with some of the patients.
One patient, when asked what he is most excited to see post-surgery, said: "My son. He's been my rock through all of this."
"Seeing him. Seeing his face. That's what I miss you know," the man continued.
When the bandages are removed, he bursts into tears upon seeing his son standing in front of him.
"I can see everyone's facial features now. Just a little blurry with my tears coming out," he added.
Donaldson, who also gave cash and other donations to patients, teamed up with Jeff Levenson, an ophthalmologist and surgeon, who assisted in the first round of surgeries in Jacksonville, Florida.
"Half of all blindness in the world is people who need a 10-minute surgery," Levenson explained in the video, referencing the cataract removal surgery.
Speaking with CNN, Levenson recalled getting a call from a representative of Donaldson's team in September.
"I had never heard of MrBeast," he admitted. "So I almost hung up. But I gratefully did not hang up."
They began compiling a list of people in the Jacksonville area who were unable to pay for their own cataract surgery by contacting homeless shelters and free clinics and, after gathering a group of 40 patients, Levenson embarked on performing the surgeries — in a single day, starting at 7 a.m. and ending at 6 p.m.
Levenson said that patients were in "disbelief that somebody would actually seek them out to rescue them from blindness, and then have the kindness and generosity of spirit to offer the surgery."
He also connected Donaldson's team with the nonprofit organization, SEE International, which provides free eye care to patients in need throughout the world. Together they were able to perform a total of 1,000 surgeries completed in around three weeks for patients in countries including Jamaica, Namibia, Mexico, Indonesia, Brazil, Vietnam, and Kenya.
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