I THOUGHT IT WAS A MIGRAINE BUT I LOST MY SIGHT
Madeline’s nightmare started when she noticed a black spot in the centre of her vision
A WOMAN has spoken about partially losing her sight after originally thinking she was suffering from a migraine. Madeline Roberts said it started seven years ago when she was just 25 and noticed a black spot in the centre of her vision one morning.
Her sight deteriorated in a matter of weeks and she was diagnosed with wet macular degeneration, a condition which usually affects older people.
Madeline’s story is being told as a new report says hundreds of thousands of people across Wales are facing a blindness epidemic unless urgent action is taken to fund medical research.
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is an incurable and largely untreatable condition and is the biggest cause of blindness in Wales – currently affecting more than 29,000 people.
AMD leaves sufferers unable to drive, read or see faces and, according to a report launched on Tuesday by the Macular Society, the number of those affected is expected to increase.
Madeline, now 32, of Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire said: “I thought it was a migraine, but over a fortnight it got worse and by that point I could see very little. It was really scary.
“I lost my sight quite quickly and very unexpectedly. The hardest thing was the anger – and you can’t aim it at anything.”
Consultants initially said they couldn’t find anything wrong but she was later diagnosed with the condition and was told the cause was likely to be an existing eye problem and genetics.
Madeline added: “In the first year of dealing with it I needed to do something to get out of the house.”
Soon after her diagnosis Madeline joined Pembrokeshire Disabled Bowling Club as an activity to help her cope and she quickly entered national championships, which led to her winning a gold medal for Wales.
She added: “When you’re at such a low point with everything and there’s one thing you can do that makes you feel like you’re no longer disabled, it helps improve things.”
The Macular Society’s report – Agerelated macular degeneration: collaborating to find a cure – exposes the lack of investment in AMD.
It highlights the fact that of the £22.7m spent on eye disease medical research in 2014, just £6m was spent on AMD.
The report, funded by the Clothworkers’ Foundation, sets out the case for more funds for research to find better treatments and, ultimately, a cure.
Adele Francis, the Macular Society’s Regional Manager for Wales, said: “This is an urgent public health issue. Unless strong action is taken right away we will be facing an epidemic in the decades to come.
“AMD is almost as prevalent as dementia and represents a huge cost, care and societal burden, yet it does not receive a level of research funding proportionate to its impact.
“Alongside the devastating personal consequences of sight loss, AMD costs the UK £1.6bn annually. The drug costs alone are now more than £200m a year and the number of people with AMD is expected to double by 2050.”
Professor Tom Margrain, of the School of Optometry and Visual Sciences at Cardiff University, said: “Researchers in the UK are making progress toward finding a cure, producing some of the best research in the world, but lack of funding means progress is much slower than it should be.
“It’s time to give our world class research community the chance to cure this blinding eye condition.”