My story

Kirsty Campbell, from the charity RNIB, talks to Glengormley Presbyterian member Nan Murray about her sight loss due to diabetes.

Watch your sight

“If I’d known then how diabetes could affect my sight, I’d have been much more careful,” says Nan Murray. There are now 100,000 people in Northern Ireland and an estimated 225,000 in the Republic living with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. All are at increased risk of diabetic eye disease as well as glaucoma and cataracts.

Within 20 years of being diagnosed, nearly all people with type 1 diabetes and almost two thirds of people with type 2 will have developed some form of diabetic retinopathy, a condition which affects different parts of the eye and can result in vision loss.

Now 82, Nan was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in her early 50s and is registered severely sight impaired due to progressive diabetic retinopathy. She wants to make others diagnosed with the condition more aware of the effect uncontrolled blood sugars could have on their sight.

“It didn’t affect my sight at first. I started off just watching what I was eating. Gradually though, I lost that fear and started eating more of what I shouldn’t. My sugars were high and erratic. The doctor put me on tablets for a while to help stabilise them, but my eyesight started deteriorating,” she explains.

Nan noticed a change in her right eye when she was in her mid-60s. She found her vision went blurry when looking at a screen in work. “It turned out my retina at the back of my eye has been damaged. I’ve experienced a lot of bleeds which have really blurred my vision and caused it to be patchy. Sometimes they’ve cleared on their own, but I’ve had quite a few surgeries on my eyes now, including laser and a vitrectomy, which did help and delay any further sight loss, for a while. Thankfully I was able to work right up to, and a little beyond retirement, but my sight has got a fair bit worse since those days.

“It’s now that I’m really starting to regret not taking better care of my diabetes to try to have avoided the difficulties that have come with the degradation of my sight.”

A member of Glengormley Presbyterian, Nan sang in the church choir for many years and knit items for Africa. Also an avid reader, she jokes that she rarely returned home from the

shops without at least one book. Thankfully, advice and training from the RNIB’s Technology for Life team has enabled Nan to keep reading through her Kindle and tablet. “I still have one level of magnification left before I might have to start thinking about audio books.” She continues, “Just a few weeks ago I gave my daughter all my knitting supplies, including dozens of knitting needles with half knitted rows that I’d dropped stitches “It is frustrating…But I’m in and couldn’t see to pick back up. I would’ve knitted lots to send to Africa, and thankful for the sight I do for friends’ children and family. I would still have.” love to still be able to. “It is frustrating. Even trying to find things is so difficult now. Like the right bit of paperwork, what I want to wear, or the TV remote… But I’m thankful for the sight I do still have. That I am still able to read with the Kindle, and use my magnifier for letters and the TV Times. That I’m still able to see pictures and the faces of my children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, though a bit blurry. It was so hard during lockdown when we had to rely on phone and videocalls or doorstep visits when it’s harder to see people. I love my visits, they really make my day.” She advises anyone who has recently been diagnosed with diabetes, or is at risk, to be careful with their eating. “Don’t do like me, I ate sweets the whole time but if I had to do it again I wouldn’t. You just don’t know what’s going to happen.” Nan adds, “If you have developed sight loss like me, maybe recently, I’d say you just have to keep trying. Keep trying different things to help. Get advice from the RNIB and others. You don’t know what’s available in your own area or by just lifting the phone. And I’ll try to take my own advice too.” For further information on looking after eye health with diabetes, visit http://rnib.org.uk/diabetes. To speak to someone about any queries or concerns, and to find out about support available, call the RNIB helpline on 0303 123 9999.