Health The advice you need
After years of struggling I’ve learnt I’m not alone
True-life PATIENT CASEBOOK
Natalie Williams, 41, Ebbw Vale
Walking through the dim car park with my partner, something hard slammed into my tummy.
‘Ouch,’ I cried.
I’d walked straight into a bollard.
It was February 2012 and we’d spent the day shopping in town.
‘How didn’t you see that?’ he frowned.
‘It’s too dark in here,’ I moaned.
Only, I worried it was more than that.
I’d worn a hearing aid since I was a little girl, and later that night I confessed to my partner I’d been struggling to see properly at night for the last year.
And even avoided leaving our house.
‘What if I trip or walk into someone?’ I worried.
I’d never learnt to drive, but taking the bins out or popping to the shop filled me with anxiety.
My optician sent me to Royal Gwent Hospital.
‘Your eyesight is deteriorating,’ the consultant said.
He thought it was linked to my hearing problems, and after tests, I went home to wait for the results. ‘I’m scared,’ I confessed to my partner.
I’d led a normal life with my hearing aid and lip reading.
But how hard would things become if I lost my sight?
My daughter, Elle, then 3, relied on me and I had a packing job in a factory.
Meanwhile, my sight got worse.
‘It’s like I’m looking through a loo roll,’ I explained to my partner.
Then in November 2012, a letter arrived. Squinting, I read that I’d been diagnosed with Usher syndrome type 2. A genetic condition that meant I’d been born with hearing loss, and my sight would deteriorate over time.
‘I could end up completely blind,’ I sobbed to my partner.
I tried to stay positive, but I felt isolated and alone.
To make things worse, me and my partner separated in February 2014.
But in January 2015, I unexpectedly got in touch with an old family friend, Gareth, then 35.
We fell in love and he was a great support to me.
In February 2016, after struggl
