I once was blind but now I see

By LIBBY MIDDLEBROOK

Cancer stole Lisa Reid's eyesight a decade ago.

Last week a bump on the head gave it back.

The 24-year-old Auckland woman has miraculously regained partial eyesight after knocking her head, confounding doctors who said she would never see again.

On November 16, Miss Reid bent to kiss her guide dog good night, but instead collided against a coffee table.

When she woke the following morning she could see for the first time in 10 years.

"I woke up and wow, the colours," said Miss Reid, who now has 80 per cent vision from her left eye.

Last weekend she saw her boyfriend of two months for the first time, along with most of her close friends. Her brother had changed from a 12-year-old boy into a man.

"It's almost too much to take in, I'm so excited. It's fantastic, amazing, unbelievable," said Miss Reid.

The cancer that robbed Miss Reid of her eyesight was diagnosed 13 years ago. Doctors gave her a 5 per cent chance of survival after discovering a large brain tumour.

Radiology and an operation to remove the cancer were successful, however, but the tumour had already damaged her eyes, cutting off blood supply and putting pressure on her optic nerves.

Miss Reid was declared legally and permanently blind at 14, her eyes able to detect only light and dark.

"Everything was against me, but hey, I'm a stubborn old redhead."

Auckland Hospital eye surgeon Ross McKay said Miss Reid had regained 80 per cent sight in her left eye, although her colour vision was limited.

He has no explanation for her recovery and has never encountered a similar case in 25 years as an eye specialist.

He could not say whether her sight would be permanent.

"For some reason she's got her sight back, and don't ask me for an explanation, because I don't have one," he said.

When Miss Reid discovered her sight at 9.30 am last Thursday, she kept it to herself for a few hours, content to play with her guide dog Ami in the back yard of her Devonport home.

Later that day she contacted her family, reading a health warning from a cigarette package to her mum over the telephone.

"Lisa called me and said 'there's been a change, listen to this'," said Louise Reid, Lisa's mother.

"Then she started reading to me; I was completely blown away."

Unsure if her eyesight would last, Miss Reid waited until Friday morning before throwing out her walking cane and spreading the news. She couldn't identify her friends by sight when they first arrived on her doorstep to celebrate last Saturday.

Miss Reid has spent the week marvelling at the Sky Tower and the little gray path in Devonport that used to be painted pink when she was a child.