As most of you know I am "as blind as a bat",
this being since birth (retinopathy of prematurity). I was having my yearly
check up on Thursday 5th June 2014 and the very good optician found a tear in
my retina in my "good eye", a sign of impending retina detachment,
causing blindness. The optician made a quick referral to the William Harvey in
Ashford for emergency appointment. After having more drops in my eye and
driving with one hugely dilated pupil, mum and I made our way. After a review
by the consultant and a chat with the surgeon I was next on the list, a rather
surreal 45 minute wait with some interesting texts and phone calls, I saw the
surgeon. Whom while I jokingly said make sure you operate on the correct eye,
got a board marker a draw an arrow above my right eye.

The surgeon ended up doing a whole 360 retina
retinoplexy, this being lasering of the whole retina to the underlying tissue,
preventing further detachment. The operation is like a mix between a Clockwork
Orange and the craziest strobe lighting you have ever seen, and rather painful.
Afterwards having a patch on for what seems ages (3 hours), and constant but
light hearted leg pulling from my nearest and dearest. I could take it off, and
see blurry objects, even with my glasses on, it did settle the next day, and
continues to improve with time. All of this, apart from being a huge shock, and
having never felt so scared in my entire life! The risk of being blind, means I
have re/learnt a couple of things. The NHS is brilliant, professional and
helpful; being on the receiving end for once. Family is massively important,
love shows in all manners of ways, if we hadn't laughed we defiantly would of
cried. I have been advised by my GP that I shouldn't do the London to Brighton
on Sunday 15th June (just like when I got hit by a car to get out of shot-put
for sports day), don't worry I still plan to do it, but when everything has
cleared up, August time (I will let you know).

Why am I telling you this? To raise awareness firstly,
secondly support; feel free to donate to my just giving page for the British
Heart Foundation, or for a new page I have set up for Guide Dogs for the Blind
and one for Royal National Institute for the Blind, to raise money to help
support people less fortunate than me. I want to raise awareness, help the
people this has affected, and support research into further developments. Or
you can just drop me a text to see how I am. Thank you everyone, you know who
you are for your support, acts of kindness and words of encouragement; I didn't
mean to scare you. I have been very lucky (as usual), but will keep going. No
point worrying about why or what if, just get on with it!

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

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