"How would you help if it wasn't YOU?"
Listen in as Anne describes how a question posed to her shifted her perspective for living with vision loss.
Hadley
How would you help if it wasn’t you?
Anne Rinard: Every time you lose some vision, it's almost like starting all over.
Marc: This is Hadley’s Insights and Sound Bites, where people facing vision loss share what has helped them cope and adjust.
Anne Rinard: My name is Anne Rinard, and I am currently living in Southern Maine.
I was diagnosed with macular degeneration. My mom had had it at that point for a couple of years, but she really wasn't losing vision. So, I wasn't overly worried about it. And then in 2021, I noticed in April. In fact, my kids were here for Mother's Day weekend. And I noticed that I couldn't read the clock and just a few other things that were blurry.
Then when I went back to the doctor, to the retina specialist, it had gone from dry to wet, and he gave me an injection. So, for a while, I mean, for almost a year, I was going almost every other week because it was changing so much. My left eye also had a PED, which is a pigment epithelia detachment. I have peripheral vision in it but it's just a big black hole in the central.
Every time you lose some vision, it's almost like starting all over. And so, I'll adjust to the level of vision that I have, and then I'll be doing okay, and then I lose more. And I start tripping or falling, or I don't know, something. You know, I walked into a tree. Just different things like that. And it's so discouraging, and not to mention the fact that it hurts your head, but I find the emotional adjusting and readjusting to be exhausting.
I had this woman come who, said to me, "How would you help yourself if you weren't you? How would you help yourself if you weren't you?
Once you start thinking that way, it's easier to be intentional. It really helped me to approach vision loss as, how do I cognitively deal with this? How do I shift the way my brain works so that I can deal with this? It takes it out of the emotional.
It helped me change my attitude so that this was not something that was happening to me. And it opened the door for me to say, I still have choices, I still have some control. Instead of it just happening to me, it was like I became involved with it. So that was a really big difference for me.
Marc: You never know who might need to hear your story. If you’d like to share with us, just leave us a message on our Insights & Sound Bites voicemail. By calling, 847-512-4867. Or, you can use your smartphone or computer and email us a recording to [email protected].
All Episodes
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Episode 71
Learning he would never see again was heartbreaking for Shannon. Embracing what challenged him, Shannon discovered strength in the unfamiliar.
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Episode 70
The week Jessica was diagnosed with an eye disease that would progressively impair her vision, she also found out she had cancer. A few things have helped her continue to feel strong and less isolated.
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Episode 69
Jack's vision has been declining for years. The hardest part for him is that it just keeps changing, so he needs to keep adapting. A routine Jack's wife put in place for the couple has helped him cope and adjust.
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Episode 68
Losing a fair amount of her vision brought with it a series of other losses for Dia. She began to feel depressed and very fearful. However, she gradually started giving herself pep talks and reconnecting with the things that bring her joy.
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Episode 67
Julia had always lived life on her own terms. So, when vision loss meant giving up her car keys, she used a white cane or her husband's arm to guide her steps, and kept going. Still, she noticed a change in how others treated her… until she made a decision she now calls, "the best thing I ever did."
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Episode 66
When the scenario Leighann had feared for years finally happened and glaucoma took much of her vision, it hit her hard. But her desire to keep living meant challenging herself—even when it scared her.
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Episode 65
Michael's vision loss led him down a long, uncomfortable road, discovering what he had to let go of and what he could still hold on to for his future. He continues to challenge himself to try new things.
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Episode 64
Tamisue's eyesight has diminished to the point where she feels stuck between two worlds—not enough vision to function as she once did, but not fully blind. She fears her world going completely dark. However, an addition to her life has made a tremendous difference for both her and her family.
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Episode 63
The loss Tom feels regarding his vision is complicated because it is ongoing. Acceptance has not come easy. Through the years, though, he has come to approach life a bit differently.
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Episode 62
Anne's declining vision had her feeling down and sorry for herself. But two gifts—one she gave and one she received—helped turn things around for her.
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Episode 61
Glaucoma advanced to the point where Ron found it too difficult to do the volunteer work he loved in retirement. Still, he found a way to pull himself out of the hole he felt he was in and continue to give back.
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Episode 60
Diabetic retinopathy has taken more and more of Charles's vision. To cope, he is learning new approaches to life AND leaning into areas of passion that don't rely on sight.