BLIND WOMAN REGAINS SIGHT
AFTER HITTING HEAD ON A COFFEE TABLE
ANew Zealand woman, who had no vision since she was 11, had her sight restored one night when she hit her head on a coffee table. Lisa Reid, from Auckland, has a tumour pressing down on her optic nerve and in 2000 she was not able to see at all. But on the night of November 15, 2000, that all changed when Ms Reid - who was 24 at the time - crouched down to kiss her guide dog at the time, Ami, goodnight and accidentally knocked her head on her coffee table. The next morning, she woke up and some of her vision had been restored.
‘Nobody knows what happened or can explain it,’ Ms Reid, now 38, told Daily Mail Australia.
‘I can’t really find words to describe how it felt - amazing, fantastic. ‘You can imagine not being able to see and then you can, you can’t really describe that. ‘To see the world again visually is a gift.’
To help her cope with her visual impairment, Ms Reid has been supported by New Zealand’s Blind Foundation and said without them she would be ‘lost without them’.
Every year the foundation hosts Blind Week - which started on October 29 this year and will run until November 3. Ms. Reid is sharing her story with the world to help them raise awareness and funds to help the foundation provide the services which she has been using since she was 14.
‘They’ve been amazing. They’ve helped give me the freedom to have my independence,’ she said. ‘I would be a bit lost without them. I’m grateful for what they’ve given me.’ On November 16, it will be 14 years since Ms. Reid got her sight back. She recalls that one of her most shocking moments she had when she was able to see again - the changes in her brother.
‘He was a man... with a goatee and everything. My brother’s a man,’ Ms Reid said. ‘When I saw my mum, I was like: “You look the same but older.” ‘I turned into a woman and my brother turned into a man.’ Funds raised during the week will help people with vision impairments to live independently, keep up with the latest technological advances, read and seek more job opportunities.