Plymouth woman publishes book about her sight loss

Plymouth resident Liz Lenton has published a book about her experience of living with sight loss and how she adapted her everyday life to manage the condition.

Profits from the sale of the book “I Will Lift up my Eyes to the Hills! A personal experience of macular degeneration and miracles” will be donated to two sight loss charities, including The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB).

Liz was first diagnosed with the sight loss condition dry age related macular degeneration (dry AMD) in the 1990s.

She had no symptoms until five years ago when her central vision gradually started to deteriorate.

In February 2015 it suddenly got worse and Liz was urgently referred to hospital but was then discharged as there was no treatment for dry AMD.

Husband Stewart helped Liz to develop coping mechanisms to live with her eye condition and has now shared these in her book.

Liz, a retired GP said: “I wrote this book to make people more aware of dry AMD, to inform them about the condition, and let them know what has worked for me.

“As someone who has been told over the phone that I would not be given a follow-up appointment, I know first-hand how devastating it can feel to know that you are rapidly losing your sight without any professional support.

“RNIB is there to support people when they’re given this news. It’s vital that every eye department in the UK has a sight loss adviser so no one else is simply left to cope without any guidance like I was.”

Laura Board, RNIB’s Area Fundraising Manager for Devon and Cornwall, said: “We want to congratulate Liz on the brilliant achievement of writing a book about her condition. We are delighted she is kindly donating part of the book’s proceeds to RNIB.”

Visit https://www.amazon.co.uk/will-lift-eyes-hills-degeneration/dp/0955402387 if you would like to buy Liz’s book.

To find out more about sight loss advisers, please visit: http://www.rnib.org.uk/eye-health-who-does-what-eye-health/sight-loss-ad...