I was diagnosed with Stargardts disease completely out of the blue after a routine optician’s appointment in 2017 at the age of 32. I felt completely lost after being told I was going blind and there was no treatment or cure, and I wasn’t given any information about my rare condition or even how much eyesight I would lose. It was this that made me create a support group for Stargardts and juvenile central vision loss, to try and find other people I could talk to and create a support network for myself and others. This group is now growing and an active community with many posts daily with people looking for help and support. I also put effort into raising money for research into eye disease and raised over £2000 on my last fund raiser.
A few months after diagnosis I was asked to talk on my local radio station to raise awareness for Stargardts and this made me create my own website for people to find my support group and blog where ‘Katie’s Vision’ was born. I looked for other avenues to raise awareness and after being involved with several eye charities, I decided to create content on social media to raise awareness on juvenile sight loss, invisible disabilities, mental health and accessibility. I spend my days bringing up my two boys and offering support and advice to others who are living with or who are newly diagnosed with sight loss, whilst raising much needed awareness and blogging about my life as someone who is visually impaired and living with progressive sight loss.