oh hi how are you don't worry there's nothing wrong with the video or your computer I just
wanted to show you what it felt like when I woke up almost entirely blind one day that should be
enough hello again my name's Lindsay and I was born with sight but then I went to sleep one day
and I woke up with almost no vision in my eyes and I don't need Daredevil super senses to know what
you're thinking right now so let's just jump right into it [Music] the human eye is such a
complex miracle it's no wonder people are saying it's proof that God exists because who else but a
benevolent all-powerful creator would give us an organ for enjoying naked people from a distance
but the eye isn't perfect it's actually so not perfect that it can just stop working all of
a sudden one day I had a massive headache on the way home much worse than anything I'd ever
experienced I assumed it was just a migraine so as soon as my six-year-old went to sleep I went
to bed to try and sleep it off the next day I awoke I thought it was weird that my eyes had
been glued shut by the sandman I managed to make my way to the bathroom and ran the tap to rinse my
eyes clean expecting to drop enough eye sand in the sink to build the grossest sand castle ever
after rubbing and scrubbing some more I realized that my eyes were open that I was
actually touching my eyeballs you're welcome for the new phobia by the way I later learned that
my blindness was brought on by acute glaucoma a sudden buildup of pressure in the eyes that
can be caused by just about anything stress medication neckties and if you're waiting for
me to yell psych about the last one then we're going to be here for a while in extremely rare
cases acute glaucoma can result in permanent loss of eyesight which is what happened to me
I now have no perception of light in my left eye as the optic nerve is dead now imagine you wake
up like that and then your child comes up to you I don't have to imagine it because I've lived it
when I was washing my non-functioning eyes my six-year-old daughter came in I was crapping
myself but didn't want to scare her my mama died suddenly the year before and since then my
daughter had been really worried about something happening to me my thoughts were if I could just
hold myself together until she gets to school then I can fall apart making breakfast was ridiculously
hard especially as I was trying so hard not to cry as well as trying to figure out what the [ __ ]
happened to me I said to my daughter let's play a game let's see how good you are at pouring your
own cereal unbeknownst to my daughter that was her only chance as a kid to just dump a bunch of
Snickers in a bowl of milk and call it breakfast I carried this on throughout getting the both of
us dressed asking does mommy look beautiful and dressed or does she look silly luckily we
lived very close to her school and there were no roads to cross on the way we walked it was
probably slower than a snail's pace I was feeling everything on the way with one hand whilst holding
my daughter's hand in the other people have asked me why didn't you stay at home and the
simple answer is I didn't want my daughter to have any memory of her mum being upset good thing then
than she wasn't around when the government people visit us you know that doesn't work on me right
I was on a waiting list for help due to my eyesight but instead of helping social worker was
asking loads of questions about my daughter and our life and after a while the questions got more
and more strange like how many times have you been unable to care for your child due to a hangover
what I didn't even drink alcohol they were trying to trap me into giving an answer that would sound
like I was abusing my child or more bizarrely that I was resentful of her in her eyesight it
was an infuriating experience and a whole other thing to worry about next to you know being blind
but it passed and with a lot of time and patience I got my life back
going blind all of a sudden is like becoming an 18 year old living alone for the first time
you're scared you have no idea what you're doing but you put on a brave face and just try to fake
it until you make it also you suck at shopping I once bought cat biscuits instead of breakfast
cereal by mistake as the shop had a change around my daughter got all excited and thought
we were getting a cat I have brushed my teeth with antiseptic cream instead of toothpaste and I have
used cleaning wipes instead of toilet wipes that was something I'll never do again I've also had
my fair share of burns from learning to cook again but I never let any of that keep me down I decided
that blindness was not going to stop me from doing anything even driving a car some years back I did
a sponsored blind drive to raise money for the guide dogs charity it involved driving a Nissan
Micra around a test track I have never driven a car in my life but I got the fastest lap of all
the participants 94 miles per hour I was in a dual controlled car accompanied by a driving instructor
who helped me navigate the track gave me the best driving advice ever point the car where you wanted
to go and don't die this may sound flippant but losing my sight kind of improved my life not only
did I get a bunch of new hobbies I think I became a better mum I stopped missing my daughter's school
plays I started giving her proper long hugs and I even started noticing little things about her
like how she holds my hand differently when she's happy and when she's sad about something to be
clear I wouldn't wish suddenly going blind on anyone but it gave me breathing space
to re-evaluate the life I was living and make changes so don't feel sorry for me I'm actually
doing great so what's the situation with the new cat is it getting here today tomorrow or