Events

I was born with an idiopathic eye disease called Pars Plantitis as well as Intermediate Uveitis. I know that I have many other things wrong with my eyes but I’m not certain on the names so I’ll leave it at these. 

My vision fluctuates drastically and always has. I had my first eye surgery when I was 5 years old and went on to have over 30 operations till 2016 when I had my last one. This caused me to lose school time and get held back as well because I was not even be able to open my eyes for months at a time. My last surgery was a retina reattachment surgery that I had to lay face down afterwards for over 19 days in a special massage type care. That was a brutal recovery. 

My vision never came back in that eye so I’m fully blind in that one and partially blind in the other.

I’ve never driven because of my disease and I use a white cane along with human guides to help get around

I learned Braille from the time I was in 2nd grade till 12th grade and I am still very close with that teacher, as she was the one I had the entire time.

I’d say it effects my life in many different ways. Mainly the most frustrating one is not being able to drive. I’m a stay at home mother now, so not being able to take my children to the park or doctors’ appointments on my own is pretty rough. I can feel pretty trapped at times.

I get hurt a lot too from running into things even with my cane or just at home. Luckily I have found ways to make sure I never hurt the babies when I carry them.

On a more positive note it lets me feel beauty more than see it. I see things different and in my own way so when I paint people are usually pretty intrigued by my perception of say like a sunset or the moon.

My senses are heightened as well. My sense of smell and hearing are very sharp. And I can even feel things usually before I run into them or as I coming towards someone.

So, I honestly always wanted to be a mother. I knew at a young age I was meant to be a mother. However my family did show some concerns and even people that didn’t even know me had made remarks about me being able to be a mother. I’ve gotten all kinds of comments like “how could you care for them if you can’t see them well or see what is around them etc?” It’s definitely not something that feels good when I hear those comments. Simply it’s just not true. I do have my challenges, like every mother does. Mine are just different.

One thing I did always keep in my mind is that I wanted to give birth before I went fully blind. So that I could see my babies. And thankfully that happened.