Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Thanks to you all whom have taken the time to donate to such a wonderful charity organization, and also to all of those that have shared in my journey since I diagnosed with Glaucoma and Myopia. 

I remember the weekend in Dec of 2010 that I started to see blurry.  I was 34yrs old and was used to vision problems, but nothing like this. I went to the Ophthalmologist and he said that I was fine and that maybe it was just stress.  My dad was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer at age 59, so it was quite an upsetting time.  I do know that stress has a horrible effect on our bodies, but I felt like something more was wrong.  Trust your instincts;)  The doctor said that my vision had dropped another degree and I was concerned because it's been dropping every year!  He diagnosed it as myopia.  He said the blurry was unrelated, which I was not ok with that, and went to seek out another opinion.  Thanks to my friend Chris Buol, who knew Dr. Rosin personally, I was able to get in with him.  He was an amazing diagnostic doctor and came to the diagnosis that I have myopia, pigment dispersion syndrome, my cornea is super thin, and my optic nerve has some damage. I remember driving home and crying on the phone with my mother as the Dr. said that we will continue to have to do testing.

As 2011 came into its year, my father had passed of his cancer within 4 months of his diagnosis, I had run a relay marathon from WI to Ill, and I was ready for vacation!!  I thought all was going well because I had stopped seeing blurry, and everything seemed fine. I went to see Dr. Rosin right before my trip, and as soon as he looked into my eyes he said...."Oh.... I remember these eyes..." At this point he said I needed to see his Glaucoma doctor and that needs to happen at the end of the week.  I was devastated! Basically what they ended up concluding is that I have pigment dispersion glaucoma( which there are about 60 different types of glaucoma) and I have myopia.  Both of which there is no cure.  Pigment that gets dispersed in my eyes is believed to be increased by exertion. Which you can imagine my devastation since I've been an athlete my whole life!  I told my doctor that I will need to see another doctor-called a psychiatrist- if we can't make things better since I'm not to exercise!!!  She did a surgery on me that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy, but it's supposed to keep my mesh holes open for some time to help the pigment run through.  How long this surgery lasts...they don't know.

My journey with different doctors since has been to harass them about what I personally can do to help my situation:)  It seems the doctors don't have a lot of answers for you, and they just keep collecting data on you.  Sure the data helps them create a profile of you and your disease, but I don't have anyone else I can talk to, to make comparisons with, and that has been truly frustrating.  The good news is that they continue to take my pressure as I work out and train, and it has seemed that my pressure is down when I'm training, and up when I'm not....maybe God heard my prayers!  The other good news is that I have been searching for a support group of other patients that are going through this....especially if they are around my age....and I found RNIB.  I never would have found them, because they are UK based, had my friend Michelle Ahlman not insisted that we do the London Marathon.  I couldn't be more elated or feeling more purposeful then to have the honor to raise awareness and money to help support such a great organization.  All the while that I'm still able to train and run.  What a wonderful combination!!

I appreciate any support you can give to RNIB, as losing your sight is a frightening journey that I think we all want to make sure happens to no one.

Thank you all for reading my story, God Bless,

Colleen Silanskis