(Kaieteur News) – Thirty-four-year-old Omar King Charles of ‘A’ Field, Sophia, Georgetown, is appealing for public support as he battles a life-threatening brain tumor that has already robbed him of the vision in one eye and now requires urgent surgery in India.

Charles was diagnosed in May with a meningioma, a tumor that develops in the meninges-the protective layers surrounding the brain and spinal cord. While most meningiomas are slow-growing and non-cancerous, they can cause serious neurological complications by pressing on the brain, nerves, or blood vessels.

Doctors have informed the family that the tumor has wrapped around a major blood vessel by approximately 180 degrees and is compressing his left optic nerve. As a result, Charles has lost vision in his left eye and can now only distinguish silhouettes. They were also advised that Guyana is unable to perform the difficult surgery.