[Njagdu] Life after blindness: Halifax woman says eye exams could have saved her sight

[Ginger Kutsch]

Vision - A Joint Venture

Life after blindness: Halifax woman says eye exams could have saved her
sight

Postmedia May 21, 2013 

http://www.theprovince.com/health/vision/Life+after+blindness+Halifax+woman+
says+exams+could+have+saved/8414591/story.html

 

By the time Milena Khazanavicius realized how severely her diabetes could
damage her eyesight, it was already too late: at 22 years of age, the
Halifax-based floral designer had gone blind.

 

Khazanavicius had recently moved to Halifax from Calgary to help her parents
settle there. Suddenly, because of diabetic retinopathy, she was the one who
needed help.

 

"If I had looked after myself better and managed my blood sugars, and paid
more attention to myself instead of everyone around me, [my blindness] could
have been prevented," she says.

 

Born in Lithuania, Khazanavicius was diagnosed with diabetes when she was
four years old. Her family moved to Canada three years later in search of a
health care system that could offer her more support.

 

She was told about the importance of keeping her blood sugar stabilized, but
she acknowledges she didn't understand just how important her lifestyle
choices were to her health, and especially to her eyes.

 

Not knowing the importance of getting her eyes checked regularly by a doctor
of optometry, Khazanavicius only started getting eye exams around the age of
17, when she began driving. In fact, it was during a mandatory eye exam to
renew her driver's license that Khazanavicius learned she had diabetic
retinopathy, a condition caused by the abnormal formation or leaking of
blood vessels in the retina.

 

"I went into the clinic and they looked at the back of my eyes and it was
like a tangled web - blood vessels everywhere," she says.

 

Diabetic retinopathy affects about half a million Canadians, according to
CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind). The condition can be
treated to prevent vision loss, but only if caught early through an eye exam
with a doctor of optometry.

 

Although Khazanavicius had retinal surgery multiple times, the sudden onset
of glaucoma - an eye disease caused by pressure on the optic nerve - created
further complications. In a matter of months, Khazanavicius could no longer
see and nothing could be done to save her vision.

 

"Charcoal grey," is how she describes what she can see now, at age 41.

 

After losing her vision, Khazanavicius says she tried to live as though
nothing had happened. She didn't seek help from anyone.

 

"I have always been severely independent," she says. "So as we do when
tragic things happen, I went into denial."

 

Since she could no longer work as a floral designer creating bouquets, she
decided to go back to school.

 

She got her own apartment and began working toward a bachelor's degree in
English literature at Dalhousie University. But soon she realized she
couldn't cope; she needed someone to teach her to live with her blindness.

 

"The hardest part of losing my sight was to actually learn to ask for help,"
she says.

 

Khazanavicius' doctor of optometry told her, "You have to get in touch with
CNIB."

 

A registered charity that assists Canadians living with blindness and vision
loss, CNIB set Khazanavicius up with a mobility expert who showed her how to
navigate her neighbourhood with a white cane and how to get to her classes
at school. She also learned to use a talking computer keyboard and took
classes at CNIB on how to navigate the Internet.

 

Khazanavicius is especially grateful to her mobility instructor at CNIB for
encouraging her to get a guide dog. Her guide dog, Verda, is the second dog
she's received from an organization called The Seeing Eye in Morristown,
N.J. Travelling with Verda gives her greater confidence, she says.

 

"I'm no longer nervous going to the grocery store or going out for a drink,"
she says. "When I'm feeling down, I get out for a speed walk with her."

 

Khazanavicius is also proud to be a volunteer with CNIB, speaking at schools
to promote eye health awareness. Khazanavicius was awarded the Queen's
Diamond Jubilee Medal this year for her volunteer work with the
organization.

 

"Nothing makes me happier than teaching people that just because I'm blind
it doesn't mean I should be stuck in a corner," she says.

 

Her message to her audiences is also about the importance of eye care.

 

"I tell kids to get their eyes checked and I also tell my older friends and
family to get their eyes checked too," she says. "There are so many eye
conditions that if caught early enough can be stopped or slowed down."

 

May is Vision Health Month. Learn more at eyesareforlife.ca.

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/njagdu_nfbnet.org/attachments/20130522/646e24dd/attachment.html>