00:06 S1
This is Studio 1 on Vision Australia Radio.
00:19 S2
Hey there. This is Lizzie Eastham, and welcome to this week's episode of Studio 1, Vision Australia Radio's weekly look at life from a blind and low vision point of view. On this week's show, I have the privilege of speaking with Melissa, who shares her remarkable journey with vision loss during the height of the Covid pandemic. She opens up about the many challenges she's faced and we hear what she's up to today.
As we always say at this point, please do get in touch with the show. Whether you have experience with any of the issues covered on this week's episode of Studio One, or if you think there's something we should be talking about. You never know. Your story and insight may help someone who is dealing with something similar. You can contact us via email at studio1@visionaustralia.org - that's studio number one at Vision Australia dot org. Or perhaps you can drop us a note on our Facebook page at facebook.com slash VA Radio Network. We want to hear from you.
Melissa, welcome to Studio 1. It is so good to have you.
S3
Thank you.
S2
So you and I actually have met through Beyond Blindness and other various activities. And I thought your story was so interesting because you actually lost your sight not that long ago. Like within the last five years. Is that correct?
01:43 S3
That's correct. 2022.
01:45 S2
2022? Wow. It's even more recent than I thought. So what happened? Like, what was the condition that made you lose your sight?
01:54 S3
Actually being diagnosed with a mitochondrial disease, which is called Leber's Hereditary Optic Neuropathy, which is a rare disease and it affects mostly males. But I got really lucky. Wow. It's like winning lotto, really, isn't it?
02:13 S2
I guess, yeah.
02:14 S3
But yeah. So the mitochondrial disease and... I didn't hit any of the things that they would normally say would be factors in trying to identify it. So I'm female, which they didn't really look for. I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't do any of the things that they say that you shouldn't do. And I didn't know anyone else in the family who had it. It wasn't a disease that our family had ever heard of, yeah, or knew existed. So it was all very new for us. And at the time, I started to lose my sight, I had Covid.
02:46 S2
Wow. So what made you realise that you were losing your sight?
02:51 S3
I actually didn't at first, so I was home sick with Covid and I'd been home for, I think it was nearly two weeks. And my eyes just, they looked like I was looking through water, so they were not really blurry and they weren't watery. It just looked like I was looking through water all the time. And so I thought it was a Covid symptom, and I was having a bit of trouble with breathing as well. So I rang the Covid hotline and they sent out the ambulance as they did back then, and went up to hospital, got sent home a few hours later saying that it's nothing to worry about, it's just Covid. They didn't look at my eyes or anything like that. Like that wasn't even taken as as a symptom. Like no one said anything.
And then I was off for seven weeks with Covid. So I went back. I was off work from April till I didn't go back to work till after the June long weekend. Yep. And then I was only back at work a couple of weeks, and I said to one of my colleagues, I think I'll have to go and get my eyes tested. I was really struggling to read the computer screen by the afternoon. Yeah. Wow. I've always worked on computers, so at first I was really blaming it on Covid. For a long time, I was just tired. My eyes were a bit funny... and instead of going to get my eyes tested, I actually went to the GP. So I had to wait two weeks after Covid to see a GP, and my boss at the time knew a bit about health stuff, so we'd made a bit of a list of things she thought I should get tested for, including vitamin A for eyesight.
So I went off to the GP and she wasn't very worried about my eyes at all. She said, no, we're not going to test for anything to do with that. So really didn't get anywhere then. Then a few weeks later, I still wasn't being able to see properly... I was, you know, by the afternoon I was really starting to struggle. And then it was winter. So I had to drive home at night. And what I was finding was when I was driving along the road, I could see the lights, but I couldn't make the cars out anymore. And I was still blown out. Long Covid at this stage, so I really wasn't seeing that I was losing my sight. I was still this is, you know, Now I think this is just long Covid because everybody was saying about all the stuff that happens after Covid. So I'm really wasn't really concerned at this stage.
And then we did think about changing doctors because I was still tired and I really just wasn't feeling like I was being heard. So we decided to stick it out because I had to have a sleep apnea medical for my driver's license in the September. So that was due on the 6th of September. So I went up to the GP for that. And part of that medical for your driver's license is they do an eye test. And so I read the chart with my left eye and that was fine. And when I came to the right eye, I actually couldn't see the chart on the wall. So and I remember the doctor saying, just read any of the letters. And I was like, no, I don't think you understand. I can't see the chart. Like I couldn't even see the edges of the chart. There was nothing.
05:51 S2
That's really scary. So you went from being like, fully sighted to struggling to read the chart within... what would you say the period of time was like?
06:03 S3
So it would have been May, when my eyes were a bit like I was looking through water, to the 6th of September, the leftovers came and I was nothing. Well, it was quite quick. My GP at the time basically said she doesn't do eyes. She couldn't complete the form, so I left and my partner was waiting out in the car. So I was quite scared at this stage. Went out to the car and said I can't see with my right eye, I don't know what's going on. And... we went home and we rang an optician because my daughter wears glasses. And so we've always had our eyes checked.
S2
Really?
S3
Yeah. I went and rang the optician, told him what was going on. He said, come straight down. So he was really good. Went down and saw him that same afternoon and he got me into an Ophthalmologists really like 2 or 3 days. There was a macular professor, and he had a look and he said, Yes, there's something wrong, but it's not me. So he then referred me to a neuro-ophthalmologist, and she did some tests and they thought it was an eye stroke. So they I was basically told that it would only affect the one eye, it wouldn't affect the other. It would just take up to six months to adapt to it. And so okay, like depth perception would be a bit hard, that sort of thing. So didn't need glasses is what I was told.
So I really wasn't that stressed about it in the September because I was thinking this is just something I have to adapt to so that my eyes were changing. I wasn't really taking notice because I had reasons for everything that was going on. Does that make sense?
07:43 S2
It does. And because you have a condition that is so what I'm going to assume fairly rare. I certainly haven't met anybody else in my travels with this condition. How long did it take you from your first visit to the neuro-ophthalmologist to getting an actual diagnosis?
08:02 S3
I didn't actually get a formal diagnosis until May 2023, so...
08:08 S2
Oh, that's crazy.
08:09 S3
Really long journey. So... after the stroke I did take, I did have October booked off for leave. So we went to Tasmania to watch my daughter compete in a Special Olympics national competition. So while I was over there, when things were changing, I was blaming it on different environment clouds. Like there was a reason for my eyes changing still. So I wasn't noticing how much change was happening because I had reasons for it. And then on I started a new job when I got back at the end of October, and I think I was only there two weeks, and I'd said to my partner, I really have to go back and get glasses. I can't read the screen. And in the first week I'd been enlarging my computer screen. So within the first week I'd got to 200%. And then I think by the end of the second week, I was at 400%, and I'd gone back to the optician and he said, yeah, you need glasses. Your eyes have changed in the last couple of months.
And so on the 15th of November, I went back to pick up the glasses that I'd ordered, and I tried them on and they gave me little pamphlet to read. And I said to the lady, I can't see anything, like these glasses aren't any good. And I actually asked her if they'd put the lenses in them because I'd used an old, oh wow frame and this old glasses frames at home. And I thought, I'll just get the lenses put in them to save money to buy the frames. And so yeah, I actually said that they put lenses in there. Oh dear. Sometimes your eyes take a couple of weeks to adjust. So off I went with these new glasses.
And then... we were due to see the neuro ophthalmologist on the 6th of December. I almost made it on the 5th of December. I was getting a lot of headaches in the morning by then. So on the Monday I'd actually gone into work and I was the first one in there, and I couldn't find the light switches in my office.
10:02 S2
Oh my goodness.
10:03 S3
And I couldn't find my desk. So I'd walked into a couple of offices because they had motion sensor lights, and then I'd walked around the building just calling out, is anyone here? Is anyone here? Yeah. I must have looked strange. And someone who wasn't in my team, but on the other side of the building, so answered. And I said, Oh, look, I can't find the lights. Can you come and help me? So they came and put the lights on. Yeah. And the lights were in a really obvious place there on a big pillar. So, yeah. So I got some help and then that...
10:31 S2
Easy. Yeah.
10:32 S3
Yeah. So that was a bit strange. So then I managed to, you know, get to my desk, and I... couldn't plug my computer in, so I just used it on battery, and then my... boss was away that day, but the director came in and we were meant to have a meeting that afternoon. But a couple of the people who were due to come actually got Covid, so we were changing the meaning to the following week. And so I don't know if, you know, an Outlook can just change a calendar invite, just dropping down the calendar and changing date. So it's a pretty quick and easy thing to do. So that took me 20 minutes to find the calendar bit and drop it down because I just couldn't see on the screen, and so I managed to do it. I didn't write anything in the email. I just sort of shot it off to say, it's now on next week.
And then I said to the director, I'm going to get some fresh air. I went outside and I used the fire escape to get out because I couldn't find the lifts, like I couldn't see the numbers. And so I had been using probably for a couple of weeks. By then, I'd been using the fire escape. I had it down pat, the 38 steps and where the where to stop, but I missed the step at the bottom that steps out onto the road and I fell headfirst.
11:46 S2
That was such a bizarre experience. Yeah.
11:49 S3
And again, I just thought I was really klutzy, and someone came over to see if I was okay, and I just said Yeah, I'm okay. I've just got sight in one eye. So, you know, sometimes I have a bit of trouble with depth perception. I didn't realise how bad it was. And so I... got up off the ground and instead of going for a walk, I went back up and I rang, my partner said Can you meet me at the train station? 'Cos I'd caught the train to work. And so I just let the boss know I was going home unwell and obviously I went home. We went to our appointment the following morning very early. We were there at 8:30, so we were waiting for them to open and...
12:28 S2
Always good to be early.
12:30 S3
Yeah, got my eyes tested and that's when I found out I was losing vision in the left eye as well. So I still had some vision in the left eye. But my ophthalmologist sent me to the hospital that day. So we went straight from there to the hospital. And each day for that week, I went down and got my eyes checked to read the chart. And each day I could see less and less. So over that week, I actually watched myself lose my vision. So I went from being able to read some letters to, I think it was the Thursday was the last day I could read any letters on the chart with the left eye, and the right eye was already well and truly gone. And so that was quite confronting.
And there was lots of people, I think I saw about 15 different doctors and specialists, and I saw everything from urologists and not just eye people, but all sorts of specialists. And they did steroids and they tried all sorts of things and nothing was really working. And so they did a lot of tests. And so when I left in that December, I still didn't have any answers. And then I knew that there was one test that they'd sent off the genetics team had actually not accepted the referral at that stage. And so one of the doctors, though, had decided to send the test off to Victoria to a genetics lab to get it tested anyway. And so that was the result. I eventually got back in May after I asked, Did you get that result? And the result had apparently come back in March, but no one had looked at it. So it was quite a long journey. It was a frustrating journey to say.
14:09 S2
Yeah, I can imagine.
14:11 S3
And I will say it was quite scary at the time because not knowing why or what was happening, or if it was fixable or not having any answers, was quite intimidating.
14:24 S1
This is Studio 1 on Vision Australia Radio.
14:33 S2
If we just like fast forward to when you did get your diagnosis... you know, you and I have had a lot of conversations off-air, and you really struggled with finding other people going through the same situation. And you were quite isolated for some time. So what were the other challenges that you faced due to you losing your sight in such a aggressive manner?
14:55 S3
So I was really lucky in one way that... Beyond Blindness came on board in about May. So I struggled to get any services on board initially because no one knew what was causing it. So there was no diagnosis, so no one knew if it was going to be permanent. So no doctors wanted to fill in forms for NDIS or income protection insurance. So there was a lot of barriers. I was hearing no, a lot, and it really was like hitting your head against a brick wall and you couldn't apply for like a blind pension because as far as Centrelink were concerned, you needed a diagnosis, it needed to be permanent. So there was just a lot of No, no, everywhere. And I was very stuck at home. I couldn't, you know, pop in the car and go for a drive because...
15:42 S2
No. We'll see. Yeah.
15:44 S3
And I can still remember the last day I drove, because I was actually driving. And I said to my partner at the time, I think the power's gone at me. There's no traffic lights. And he said, Yes, there is. And I'm, that's...
15:57 S2
Bizarre.
15:58 S3
And there was at the traffic lights prior to that. But when we got to this particular set of traffic lights, I'd actually lost my colour. So I couldn't see the lights. And I was driving at the time, so that was pretty scary as well. So there was lots of things that were happening with no explanation. There was no diagnosis. It was happening very fast. I was stuck at home with no real support. My family didn't really know what was going on either, so it was very hard for them to know what to do, what to say, how to support me or not support me. Yeah. So it kind of it did have a really big impact on my relationship as well between both myself and my kids who are young adults, but also myself and my partner. So that was certainly an experience.
So it was really nice when Beyond Blindness came along, that I got to leave the house - because for months I really couldn't do that. So we were very fortunate in that the guide dogs came up to the house. I think that was December. They sent an OTT app just to do a safety check to make sure the house was safe. Yeah, because I had no funding. So they did that without charge and they measured up for some rails for the bathroom because I was having dizzy spells. And then we just paid for the rails, but they came and did all the measurements and did that for us. And they stuck some little buttons on the microwave so I could at least, you know, heat some food up.
17:28 S2
Oh, yeah, we've got those buttons too. Yeah.
17:31 S3
And it's amazing how much you lose and you don't realise how much you rely on sight. Of course, getting a meal was really hard, and I had a Samsung phone at the time and I'd run out of sight on the magnification so I could no longer answer the phone. I couldn't call people. I couldn't, you know, see how much money I had in the bank. I couldn't pay a bill. I couldn't look up what was on TV. I couldn't see what was on TV. Trying to even listen to some music couldn't do that because I couldn't find where the music was. So it was kind of like, life stopped. Yeah. And I know that sounds a bit silly, but because I didn't have any of those supports saying This is how you can go and do this, then you really just can't do anything. Mm. So it was very frustrating.
18:22 S2
But you really did pull through, and like you've done some incredible things I guess in the, you know time since you've met up with Beyond Blindness. I mean, I've seen you at several activities and things like that. So what are some of the activities and things that you enjoy doing now?
18:40 S3
So one of the things that I used to do before I lost my sight was card-making, and I honestly thought I wouldn't be able to do that again. But going to beyond blindness. So I go to the southern Beyond Blindness the first three Tuesdays of the month. So the first one is more of a social group. Sometimes I have a guest speaker, but the second one is craft. And so we actually did some card-making there. So I still make cards now, I just had to change how I do it. So instead of using stamps, I'm using a lot more cutting out shapes, using layers, using more tactile things. So for a while there people were having to get bought cards, but now they're back to getting my originals.
And I've had to let go of the perfectionism that I used to have, where I used to measure and then stick things on. Now I would just say it's more of a rustic... so I had to change mine. That's special though opinion to how I do things and give myself a break. That's taken a long time to give myself a break as well. So I really enjoy the craft and great group of ladies who go and do that. And then on the third Tuesday, it's usually a bus trip. And so really good group of both men and women, range of ages who go to that. And so that's, it might be going out and going for a walk and then having lunch - and for a while there, I really didn't want to go out for lunch because eating was really hard, not just because you can't see what food is on your plate, but you don't know what you're eating. And I can be fussy.
20:15 S2
Oh yeah. No, I get that. I 100% get that. I mean, it's hard for me and I'm, you know, I've never had sight. But for me, it's hard to eat as well. I mean, if you know exactly what's on your plate, which generally you don't. If you're going out, it can be a bit of a daunting experience, especially if you get something you don't like. Yeah.
20:32 S3
And even when you do know what's on the plate, it's got something like gravy on it. You'd be amazed how many times you spill food down your front.
20:39 S2
Oh it's awful.
20:40 S3
Had to get in the habit of bringing a jumper or a cardigan. Ate with that off, and then I can put it back on afterwards so no one can see the mess I've made.
20:49 S2
Amazing. That's adapted.
20:50 S3
So I do enjoy going out now, but for a while there that was something that was really anxiety-provoking and very nerve-wracking. Just going out and having to eat and learning to, you know, try and pick things that are more finger foods and things that need a knife and fork, because you can stab things with a fork, but you can cut yourself with the knife. You don't get it in the right spot. So that was a bit challenging as well. I've also taken up tenpin bowling, so I do that on the first Thursday of the month and that is awesome fun. I'm not very good at it, but I'm improving. So... it's certainly entertaining, but... it's really good.
There's lots with Beyond Blindness. You line up at the the line, you bowl your ball. Someone tells me how many I've knocked down or not. And, then you line up and they tell you where the ones that are left are, so you can have another go. And it's just a really nice social activity, which is great. So I really enjoy that. I enjoy the walks. There's a young person's group as well that I try and get to once a month, so all very cool. Social contact has been really important to me because my identity before I lost my sight was really around work and I guess my children and I was volunteer with a few things. I have kept volunteering with Special Olympics Soccer.
But yeah, I can't do as much as I used to do so I've had to learn other ways and get other people involved. But yeah, I think the social side has been really important and having other people to talk to and especially other people who have had some vision loss because they all have different ways of doing things. But it means I can go and try some of them and see if any of them work for me, for sure.
22:33 S2
And, you know, we've spoken on, off-air about this quite extensively. And one of the things that you said to me, which I actually found quite profound and has impacted me since I've heard it was you lost your voice, you know, when you lost your sight and you feel like now you're starting to get your voice back? What does that mean to you?
22:55 S3
Yeah. So that was probably the hardest thing. I think when I first lost my sight was, I feel like when I say I lost my voice, it's not that I've lost my ability to talk. People stop listening. So in a way, you lose your identity, you lose your value, and you lose your voice. And other people from the [?Arkansas] near you still have value. But if no one's actually listening to you, that value is diminished. So then you have to find a way to get back some value. Find some confidence, find some strength and find things that you can do. Yeah. And that's been really, really difficult. That would be a very hard part of the journey. And I can honestly say that's really only just started to occur.
You're saying the maybe the last 6 to 8 weeks like that's been a really recent thing. Prior to that, I think I had to go through the journey of learning to be mobile. So mobility training, I'd use a white cane. So I had to learn to be able to get around on my own. I had to I was really lucky that I've now got an Apple phone with VoiceOver, so I can now do my own banking. I can pay for things, I can go to the shops. So I'm not relying on other people as much, and I needed to do that before I could start to take my voice back. And it is interesting that when you go to places, even if you've got a support worker with you, I often find people will talk to the support worker, not to me.
Yes, and I even found that when I was going through the diagnosis process and going through the hospitals and all the doctors, a lot of them will talk about me while I'm in the room, and I'm sitting there like I'm actually there, and it's like I don't exist. And they forget that you're a person. You become, I guess, an object. And so you have to constantly, I feel, fight for what you need. You become a very strong self-advocate. You do because no one would do that for you like you can for yourself. But you have to pick and choose your battles.
And for a long time, when I was losing my sight, not knowing the cause, then knowing the cause, but not having enough information and not having being able to meet anyone else with the same disease, there's a bit of a process of grief that goes along with that.
25:19 S2
Of course there would be.
25:21 S3
I think I had to work through that before I could start to get my voice back and and how to use my voice, because it is a little bit now of, okay, what's really important to me, what's worth the fight and what's not, of course.
25:35 S2
And the other thing that you said was that you are volunteering for the, is it the Miro Foundation? My Stories project. Yes. So tell me a little bit about how that got started for you. How did you start volunteering there and what is the My Stories project?
25:52 S3
When I first got my diagnosis back in May 2023, the doctor who came in and told me that we had a diagnosis didn't actually tell me what the disease was. So what he says was, we've got a diagnosis. The questions I asked, he said I'd need to speak to the ophthalmologist. The ophthalmologist said I'd need to speak to the genetics team. And there was a bit of a gap in all of that. So we had this piece of paper that came from the DNA lab in Victoria. And on that it said that I had a mitochondrial disease, Leber's Hereditary Optic Neuropathy and the DNA number. And so I started with, I googled mitochondrial disease. And with that came up a fundraiser called the Bloody Long Walk. I don't know if you...
26:38 S2
Yes of course. Yes.
26:40 S3
So that's what came up initially. So I actually rang the phone number for that. And I said, I've got this piece of paper that says I've got this disease. Do you cover that? Do you know what it is? Because I don't know anything. So that's how I started. And that was the [?Meyto] Foundation. And they were brilliant. So they connected me with a peer support person who has the same disease, who lives in Tasmania. So I had someone to talk to on the phone. They linked me in with a nurse practitioner who is based in Sydney but knows what mitochondrial disease is, and they gave me someone to talk to and him. They just gave me some basic answers of what I was dealing with. So they were my lifeline for a while.
And then last year, I was actually asked to contribute to the Mitochondrial Week Awareness Week, and that was about how mitochondrial disease affects family. And I actually decided not to do that. It was too soon. Like I couldn't have done that from where I was emotionally. I just thought that was too much. So this year, I guess I'm just in a bit of a different place. I've worked through a few things. I've learnt how to do a few things. I'm a bit more independent. Last year I was still stuck at home, not really going out much. So this year they advertised not so long ago that they wanted some people to be on the advisory board for the motto stories, My Stories project. Okay.
And that's working with the researchers to help advise that project on how it should be run and what information they need. And they wanted people with lived experience. And when they sort of said what kind of information they were looking for, I thought, well, that's what I used to do for a paid job. So I rang them up and I said, what are you actually looking for? Because I can't read. I'm not very good at writing these days because I write my words on top of other words, so I might know what I mean, but no one else can read it. Yeah. I don't know how to use a screen reader yet, so I don't do Jaws. I do emails and things using my iPhone, so I'm mostly just use the iPhone for everything.
So I said, what... would I need to know how to do? And they were really good. They said If you want to apply for it, we... if you're successful, we will do everything we can to adapt to what you need. We will make it work for you. So I thought, well, what have I got to lose? And so I sat with a support worker and got her to open a Word document, type out the first question, and then I just rambled off a whole heap of things that I used to do that met that question. And then I got her to read it to me, and we just kind of worked it through until it was what I wanted to say. But she was doing the typing.
So we got through all the questions, and when I was happy with them, we opened up their application form and cut and paste and sent it off. And in all honesty, I didn't expect to hear back from them. I wasn't feeling all that confident and I got a phone call to say Would you have time for an interview? So that was actually really exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time.
29:54 S2
Amazing though.
29:55 S3
Yeah. And so then I did have the interview and it was very much like a job interview... to what I would have done when I was with state government. So very similar. And a few days later I got an email offering me a position on the board. So that was super exciting. And I've just had my first meeting with them the other day. Wow, that was awesome. And they did it via Zoom. So... yeah, don't have to travel, which is great. Yeah. And yeah, they were really good. They did the link in an... email for everybody else, for Outlook calendar invite. And for me, they sent it as a separate link so that I'd be easier for me to find the other people on the advisory board don't have long. They do have a lot of Conrail disease, but they can see. Yep. So they've adapted it really well. They sent all the notes and the agenda in separate files, so I didn't have to try and listen to one really big long one all at once.
30:53 S2
That's amazing.
30:55 S3
Did it in 3 or 4 different files. Yep. So you could break it down, listen to one repeat, listen to it again. And then once I knew yep, that's what that's talking about. Then I'd attack the next one. So that was really handy. So they have been incredibly supportive along the way and they've really adapted it. And there was only one report that they sent through that I couldn't read yet because it had graphs and things in it.
31:18 S2
If it was a finance report, I completely understand because I have so much trouble reading them.
31:23 S3
Yeah, this was a report on the... just on like, data collection and research and that sort of... Okay.
31:30 S2
Yeah.
31:30 S3
But yeah, I was able to get someone else just to say Look, tell me what it says. Put it into numbers, context. Forget the pictures.
31:37 S2
Yeah, that's good though.
31:39 S3
Can't do pictures. No but yeah. So, and they've said they're going to look at that and see if there's a way that they can modify that for the next quarterly report for that, which I thought was really good. And it meant I got to talk to some other people with lived experience. But I've also talked to some researchers, and hopefully some of the information I contributed actually helped them as well.
32:01 S2
Well, Melissa, thank you so much for being a part of this interview and being a part of Studio 1. You know, it was so great to hear from you and your experiences. I definitely, you know, I think you've got quite a unique experience because you had an amazing, you know, career and this whole identity before you lost your sight. And but you've still managed to somehow keep on keeping on and actually, you know, still be a very productive member of society and live a meaningful life. Yeah.
32:34 S3
I think really the really important thing is, and I think it's something I've got from watching some other people who are already... have low vision or blind or whatever they choose to identify as, is that my life has changed. So rather than feeling like my life has ended, the life I had is not there anymore. But now I have to work out what do I want my identity to be? And so I'm in a really unique position that I can actually think about that and choose what direction I want to go now. And so that's an advantage most people will never get, because we do live our lives, and we often don't sit back and think, what do we want to do in the future? We might think about retirement and far off things, but who's to say we're actually going to get that far?
33:19 S2
So exactly.
33:21 S3
I mean, a different position where I actually think about when things come up. Now, what is important to me, what do I want to do and what do I want to put my energy into? Because I don't have a lot of energy. So I've got to pick the stuff that's important, and that's both stuff that will assist other people, but also things like the tenpin bowling. I make sure I have time for that every month because I really enjoy it. You don't have to be good at it. You just have to enjoy it.
33:56 S2
Well, that is a wrap for this week's show. I would like to give a big thank you to Melissa for speaking with us this week and sharing her journey. And of course, a big thanks to you for listening.
On next week's show, what is it like to lose your sight? We talk to a few friends, but between now and then, please do get in touch with the show. Whether you have experience with any of the issues covered on this week's episode of Studio 1, or whether you think there's something we should be talking about. You never know. Your story and insight may help someone who is dealing with something similar. You can contact us via email at studio1@visionaustralia.org - that's studio number one at Vision Australia dot org. Or perhaps you can drop us a note on our socials. Just look for us on Facebook or Instagram at Viva Radio Network we want to hear from you. Bye for now.
34:50 S1
Vision Australia Radio gratefully acknowledges the support of the Community Broadcasting Foundation for Studio 1.
34:58 S4
Oh, Lizzie, I'm sorry I'm late. Have I missed anything?
