I have always had issues with my sight.
I wore glasses from the age of 3 right up until last year. For about a year, aged 4 or 5, I had a big plaster over one of my eyes as it was ‘lazy’ or ‘wandering’. Being called Becky meant I got called Specky Becky. Not my favourite nickname!
Glasses meant I could see, without them I would see double of things and they would be come blurred so despite my vanity my glasses gave me clear sight. Oh I am so glad I was able to have my vision corrected in this way .
I have studied hard in my life and needed good vision, I have travelled widely and would have missed some amazing sights. My sight has always been so precious to me. I recall the gorgeous faces of the people I have loved and lost, seeing my children for the first time and each and every day. Such glorious sights.
Yesterday I saw a cherry red poppy poking through our fence as I drove home. Such a simple ordinary sight it bought me so much joy.
In my previous job as a social worker and children’s therapist my sight enabled me to show my compassion, to read a child’s feelings, to see their fears and sadness even when their words hid it. I have been able to convey warmth through eye contact and build significant connections.
Sight is amazing, it is so very useful, it is profoundly moving.
Last year I had lens replacement therapy and now have perfect 20 20 vision my eyes had been deteriorating and I was about to need varifocals and I had been getting very bad headaches. This crystal clear vision is absolutely amazing. I feel very lucky.
Struggling with sight affects so many areas of life. Other people aren’t so lucky.
Did you know 80 per cent of all blindness in the world could be prevented or cured.
That’s over 31 million people,
Wow.
Most of these people live in the poorest countries in the world and they go blind unnecessarily. Poverty is both a cause and effect of blindness, a cycle is created that can be hard for communities to break out of. SightSavers is an amazing charity that works tirelessly to help cure blindness and fight for the rights of people with visual impairments and disabilities everywhere
A straightforward operations to give someone their sight costs costing £8-£28. Isn’t that amazing? Not much is it? Not really. Not to give someone the ability to see..
Annual doses of antibiotics costing 7p-35p per person. Such a simple solution.
If you’re moved to give someone their sight please visit www.sightsavers.org.uk/donate. It would just be so amazing to know that’s what you did with today.
You really can change lives.
Please support SightSavers .
All the bloggers linked up below are talking about why their sight is important all this week and are sharing their stories on Twitter too at #mysight
@Sightsavers
If you are moved to join in I would LOVE you share this info and share why your sight matters. Do come and link up if you do.
What a moving post Becky. It’s obvious that your sight means a lot to you in so many different ways, and it’s wonderful that you’ve been inspired by that to support a great campaign from Sightsavers. I hope you get lots of people liking up, I can’t wait to read other people’s take on the theme xxx
I’m just blown away by those figures Becky. I’ve never given this a thought before I’m ashamed to say. Sharing now x
Thank you for sharing your story and making us all aware of this great campaign.
I am not sure I am brave enough to have surgery to correct my vision, especially as I quite like my glasses these days.
Off to read the others now xx
I am horribly short sighted, and can be found patting the bedside table each morning as I cant even see well enough to find my specs. I am so grateful that my faulty vision is easily corrected with glasses or contact lenses, I cannot imagine living my life with the limited sight nature has gifted me with, which is why I can see the huge importance of this campaign – off to donate, and to share this post xx
Incredible that so much blindness could be prevented, so much in the world can be changed. Incredible cause Becky, thanks for sharing.
A lovely post – the stats are astounding though – something we take for granted. Seeing my daughter is the greatest thing in the world. Luckily I have never had a great need for glasses, I do have them, just tend never to wear them x
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Thank you all for your 😉 Fabulous COmments and for sharing this post it all makes such a difference
Becky, well done for supporting such a worthwhile campaign. It’s something I’m sure a lot of us take for granted. x
A wonderful post Becky. I was really moved at how you described how important your eyesight has been in relation to working with children. So far, I have been very lucky with my eyesight, but I have started to need reading glasses in the last year; that’s ageing for you! A great cause. X
I couldn’t imagine being blind.In the developed countries we can get the medical, financial, emotional and physical support we need, we just think about what it would be like without that.
We take our sight for granted that is for sure. I am very short sighted and had to go to see an optometrist about a sudden deterioration a few years ago and it frightened me to death. So brilliant that you are raising awareness of such an important campaign and that photo is beautiful.
well done mrs, I bet you were an amazing therapist x
Our sight is so precious and it is desperately sad that people lose this part of their life for what actually can be fixed or prevented at such a small cost. Thank you for highlighting this incredible cause Becky xxx
Those figures are just amazing Becky – thanks for doing this!
Completely shocked by the figures of this, especially when so many of take our glasses and lenses for granted. Thank you for sharing, am off to donate now xx
Shocking isn’t it, what fabulous work can be done with such little money. Mich x
Oh wow! I didn’t actually think of it like this. Will be sharing now!
It’s something most of us take for granted and is so important to raise awareness of something so simple, cheap and yet effective x