Hello:

My name is Laura, I was born in 1955. I had my left eye enucleated when I was two weeks old. In my teens, I remember my mother telling me when she was informed that my eye Enucleation was necessary, she left the hospital with me in her arms and wandered aimlessly around the streets of Chicago in a daze.

She wondered at the time, how I would look, and what this would do to affect my life. I know that my parents could have used a support network such as this page, and I am thankful to be a part of this outreach now.

Growing up with a ocular prosthesis was difficult at times. No one wants to be different from their peers. I remember in junior high I had to stand in a long line of girls having an eye exam given by the school nurse. When it came to my turn, I had my hand covering my good eye and peeked through my fingers in order to fake the eye exam. I believed I pulled that off a few times.

The most difficult times for me, was being with a group of my friends and having someone ask me in front of everyone, "what's wrong with your eye?" my heart would just sink.

"People say everything happens for a reason," and there is little we can do about it. I have come to understand this, but I must say it was a difficult journey for me at times.

When I did allow myself to feel down about my circumstances, I would invariably see someone in a wheelchair or facing some other tragedy and then feel guilty about how I was feeling. But the truth is, in my world this was a tragedy for me, and I was living it.

However, by allowing myself to grieve and deal with the sadness and the anger I felt, I began the first first step in the healing process. This has allow me to come to terms with my eye loss and move on with my life.

I have since married, raised two children and I work with special needs children. I feel positive about my life and very comfortable about my appearance.

If you would like to have someone to share your feelings with, I would like to hear from you. Perhaps I can answer a question you have, or offer some support to you that I am sure would have helped me when I was going through my eye loss.

Please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

Laura

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