My name is Louise Collins and I am a veteran of HM forces as a member of the Territorial Army where I joined in 2000 as a member of the Royal Corps of Signals. Firstly as a member of the Queens Own Oxfordshire Hussars and then as a member of the 94 Berkshire Yeomanry Signal Squadron. When I went to university to study criminology I transferred to the Royal Army Medical Corps and 5 Medical Regiment, but I unfortunately was discharged in 2004 with PTSD, which is having a profound effect on my life and is still doing so even now.

After going back to "civvy" street and going around different jobs I decided in 2008 to pursue my love of nursing after having to give it up almost a decade before. After my PTSD causing problems during my training and having to take some time out and 6 months before I was due to qualify I developed a rare neurological illness called Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (IIH) in which I suffered catastrophic sight loss and lost 80% of my sight and all of my peripheral vision, which means that I can't see what is around me and what I see in front is blurred and out of focus.

Thanks to a fantastic charity called Blind Veterans UK I am starting to fulfil my potential especially in arts and crafts such as sewing, jewellery, mosaics, paper crafts, card making (people think that because you are blind you are not capable of making anything beautiful ...)

One thing that I do miss is the ability to recognise people as whenever I see them I am unable to see their facial features due to my sight loss.

The Orcam MyEye is a vital piece of technology which would allow me to recognise people's faces once I have put them into the database. Every-time I look at a person in the database it will tell me exactly who it is straight away. MyEye also has the ability to read books and newspapers which I haven't been able to do in almost 5 years and I would love to be able to do this again. One key tool of the MyEye is to keep a database of products that I buy on a day to day basis and this will allow me to buy foods which are safe for me, also the MyEye will allow me to read the ingredient on food packets which is key for me as I suffer from a number of life threatening food allergies and it will make the shopping for food more easy.

The Orcam MyEye is a fantastic tool that would change my life and I really need you help to make this possible. Thank You.