The story of Renée
April 8th, 2011 began my journey of going blind. Out of the blue that day at work, I felt off-balance and my eyes felt weird. I rubbed my eyes to make it go away, and had no vision in my right eye. Complete panic mode! Three hours later, my vision came back, and it was if it never happened. Two days later it happened all over again. Neither my optometrist or opthamologist could find anything wrong. Over the next year and a half, I had significant vision loss in both of my eyes, had seen 13 different doctors and specialists in 3 different states, and had NUMEROUS tests in attempt to find some answers. Finally in late 2012, I saw a world-renowned eye specialist, who was able to diagnose me. I am just one in a small handful of people around the world who have ALL THREE of these eye diseases: 1. Retinitis Pigmentosa, 2. Cone Rod Degeneration, and 3. Autoimmune Retinopathy. By mid 2013 I was totally blind in my right eye, and in early 2014 I was 97% blind in my left. This remaining 3% vision has been fairly stable over the past 2yrs. I’ve gone through Orientation & Mobility Training, and get around very well with my cane. Numerous other low vision AIDS are a tremendous help in my daily life as well. I turn 50 next month, am married to a wonderful and supportive husband, we have 6 children (2 teens still at home), 9 living grandchildren (3 angels), and am LIVING with blindness!