Sight is something which many people take for granted.
And that helps explain why an Aberdeenshire woman, who woke up completely blind after an overnight haemorrhage behind her eyes, has vowed to overcome her disability and raise cash for a national charity.
Carolyn Sinclair, 27, never experienced any problems with her vision until the frightening morning last June, when the mother-of-two from Inverurie opened her eyes, only to see a distressing rainbow of colour and nothing else.
In a panic, she was rushed to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, where doctors discovered her sudden sight loss was due to a severe build up of spinal fluid and bleeding inside her skull.
Miss Sinclair said: “It was absolutely terrifying.
“The best way I can think to describe what I saw when I first opened my eyes was the colours of an oil spill – I couldn’t actually see anything in the room around me.
“To wake up alone, with my two kids Abby and Ailah depending on me, was truly scary, but thankfully, I had so much support from my friends and family.
“I went to an optician, and, after I was examined, I was immediately sent to the ARI. They did a lumbar puncture and took out a lot of my spinal fluid to ease the pressure, and, after that, I was in the hospital for a good few weeks undergoing all sorts of scans and tests.
“Thankfully, my brain was okay, but I had suffered a severe haemorrhage behind my right eye, just because of the pressure.
“Because of the swelling on my optic nerves, they couldn’t say for sure how much of my vision would return, but I’m now at the stage where I can just meet the minimum requirement to drive.
“It’s not so bad it affects my quality of life – but it could have been so much worse.”
Following a few months of recuperation, Miss Sinclair managed to regain a lot more of her vision than she had anticipated, but it remains highly impaired.
And she has now resolved to help others dealing with vision loss.
She added: “When I got out of hospital, I thought I should do my best to try and stay fit and healthy instead of taking it lying down.
“I thought, if I set the target of a five kilometre run, that would keep me going to the gym, and then I had the idea of doing it while also raising money for the Royal National Institute of Blind (RNIB).
“I’m doing a good few things throughout the year to raise cash for their talking book service, including a skydive, a couple of long runs and I’m also planning on bagging my first Munro.
“It costs £1,500 to pay the costs of creating a professional audio book for a child, so that’s my target, and it’s such a good cause as well, because the blind and partially sighted need to be able to enjoy books just like everyone else.
Miss Sinclair has raised nearly £1,000 towards her target. To donate, visit www.justgiving.com and search for “Carolyne Sinclair”
