Life changes: living with glaucoma

For Eilish Clarke from Cavan, glaucoma has always been a part of her life. She was born with the congenital glaucoma, which was picked up when she was a baby.

“I’m the youngest of four and when I was about six months old my mother noticed that I was holding my toys closer to my face than my siblings would have and she brought me to the doctor. Luckily my GP referred me to an ophthalmologist and I had two major operations before I was two,” explains Eilish.

Although her sight was badly affected, Eilish could see well enough to attend a mainstream primary school in Cavan for a few years. “My sight was diminishing all the time and I went to St. Mary’s school for the blind in Dublin when I was nine. That was a big change for me but really it was worse for my parents having to send me. I stayed there until I did my Leaving Cert when I was 18.”

While it was a major adjustment from some sight to no sight, it was something that Eilish had been adapting to throughout her childhood. Now a long cane user, Eilish has made adaptations to her workplace in Cavan General Hospital. “I suppose I’ve been adjusting to sight loss all along really as my sight was failing and then I lost it completely when I was 10 or 11. At work I use a scanner and speech software on my PC. A guide dog really wouldn’t be suitable for because I live in the country but I manage fine with the long cane. I don’t really do anything different at home. I’m so used to it now that I just get on with things,” outlines Eilish.

Although she has congenital glaucoma, Eilish hasn’t been able to trace a family history of the condition. “We can’t find a history of congenital glaucoma anywhere in the family, none of my brother and sisters have it and my children don’t have it so it seems like it was just one of those things.”

However, during a routine eye exam a couple of years ago, Eilish’s father was diagnosed with glaucoma. “My father went for reading glasses and they discovered he had glaucoma. It was caught early so his sight hasn’t been affected at all. If he’d left it any longer it might have been though so he was lucky. He manages it very well and takes eye drops every day. He also goes for regular check ups here in Cavan and also with his ophthalmologist. It just shows how important it is to have regular check ups, especially for older people.”