Looking after eyesight means getting eyes tested - Harold Timmins

Harold Timmins has severe, advanced glaucoma but isn't letting it rule his life. Photo / David Haxton

A chance visit to the doctor was how Harold Timmins would discover his eyesight wasn’t in good shape.

The ex-farmer, who was living in Pahiatua, went to the doctor in the early 1990s after a foreign object became lodged in his eye and wouldn’t budge.

The doctor couldn’t get the object out so sent him to an ophthalmologist in Palmerston North.

The object, which Timmins thinks was a bit of grit, was removed but then he was advised he had glaucoma and needed surgery.

Glaucoma is the name given to a group of eye diseases where the optic nerve at the back of the eye is slowly destroyed.

For Timmins, the disease, over the years, would lead to severe advanced glaucoma, lifestyle changes and plenty of frustrations, but throughout it all — a positive frame of mind too.

Being told he had glaucoma was a bit of a shock for Timmins, who was in his 40s, but not totally surprising.

“I should have been more aware because my mother had a history of it [glaucoma].”

The specialist also found Timmins’ optic nerve, at the back of the eye, was very pale.

“He said ‘you’ve got an optic nerve that we’d expected to see in an 80-year-old’.”

Timmins started taking eye drops — one in each eye, each night.

After a few years, he underwent an MRI scan at Wellington Hospital which showed nothing.

Six monthly eye checks were conducted to keep a check on the pressure build-up.

I’m determined to not let it get the better of me and continue to do what I can.

Harold Timmins

That carried on throughout the years as well as seeing two other eye specialists.

Timmins and his wife Edith sold their farm and moved to a lifestyle block in Levin in the early 2000s.

He had his eyes lasered but there was no improvement, and he was soon on two lots of eye drops — morning and night.

He was referred to glaucoma specialist Professor Tony Wells, in Wellington, who operated on his right eye.

“He made a nick in the back of the eye to drain the fluid off.

“I thought it would improve my sight but it didn’t really and I’ve probably got down to about 5 per cent sight.”

Attention turned to the left eye which saw an increase in eye drops — he has two in the morning, two at midday, and four at night.

He reckons he has about 10 to 15 per cent sight in his left eye.

In the last five years, the couple has been living in the Kāpiti Retirement Village in Paraparaumu.

A key reason for the move was to be close to Wellington where he goes every four months for eye checks.

Harold Timmins at his home in Paraparaumu. Photo / David Haxton

Living with glaucoma has meant changes to his lifestyle including giving up driving when he lived in Levin.

One day, while driving along a country road, he was shocked to suddenly see a cyclist adjacent to his car.

“Had there been oncoming traffic I would have run into him. I didn’t drive after that.”

The condition has meant he doesn’t read anymore, relies on natural light because electric light is too bright, can’t see detail, watches limited television, and always has household stuff in the same place.

But he loves going for a walk, playing petanque and croquet, and tending his vegetable garden although he admits it’s “probably the weediest one in the village”.

Having glaucoma was about adapting to a “new lifestyle the best way you can”.

Timmins is also a member of a glaucoma support group that has been launched in Kāpiti.

“The group was partly started on the initiative of Glaucoma New Zealand which was encouraging support groups throughout the country,” said Ron Tustin who is one of the coordinators of the Kāpiti Glaucoma support group.

“And it grew out of a symposium that was held in Wellington which had a lot of detail about glaucoma.

“The support group [which can be contacted by emailing kapitiglaucomagroup485@gmail.com] meets every two months in Paraparaumu and we hope to have a guest speaker at each meeting.

“The first speaker at the meeting on April 28 is going to be the other coordinator of the group, Tony Heyward, who is a mental health tutor.

“He will talk about some of the issues like anxiety and so on.”

Tustin said over 50,000 Kiwis had glaucoma and are unaware of it.

“The best way to catch glaucoma early and protect your vision for future years is by having regular eye exams.

“Any eyesight loss from glaucoma can’t be reversed by treatment, but with early detection, disease progression can be slowed.”

Tustin said there are many types of glaucoma that can present with a variety of symptoms or none at all.

“Loss of sight can impact your everyday life such as driving, reading, watching television, and work.

“It’s important to protect your sight to keep doing all the things you enjoy.”

Living with glaucoma has had its frustrations but Timmins hasn’t let it rule his life.

“I’m determined to not let it get the better of me and continue to do what I can.

“For how long, I don’t know, but hopefully for quite a few years yet.

“I realise I’m a smidgen away from being totally blind which isn’t a good thought.”

His advice to people was simple.

“Get your eyes tested and don’t put it off.”