When I was diagnosed with Stargardts, I knew there and then that I wanted to see more and visit more beautiful places before my vision deteriorated further. I started to make a list of places that were high priority and Lake Garda was one of them. In April my husband surprised me by suggesting we go for my 33rd birthday, I was so excited! It gave me something to focus on and I began searching for somewhere to stay! We settled on a beautiful hotel in Malcesine in the mountainous end of the lake, the pictures on line looked perfect.
I love travelling and holidays, so my suitcase was packed a couple of weeks before we were due to go. I had never been to Italy before, but as soon as we stepped off the plane, I knew I was going to love it! I will be honest and say, I didn’t realise Lake Garda was actually in a mountain range, I thought it had a couple if mountains but was mainly hilly, how wrong was I! Before my diagnosis, I had struggled a lot with anxiety and small enclosed spaces with lots of people was my absolute nightmare, but I braved it and took a tiny cable car all the way up to the mountains, because I knew what was up the top would be so worth it. I could not believe the beauty once up there and I will hold that memory with me forever ❤️ I felt so grateful to be there and to be able to see all that I could.
We hear it said a lot about how precious our eyesight is, but until you are told you are losing it, nobody can ever truly realise the full meaning behind a saying like that. For me this trip wasn’t just about seeing Lake Garda in all its beauty though, it was also about experiencing new things with my family. The joy on my little boy’s face when he found an unusual looking Italian bee in a flower, seeing his little mucky face covered in another flavoured ice-cream he hadn’t tried before. It’s all the small things as well, that make up the big things, the important things, the things we cherish the most 💜