Dishell’s Story

My name is Dishell and I live in Texas. I was diagnosed with Stargardt’s at 26 after the birth of my first child. All I know is that one day I woke up and saw a small black dot in my left eye. I kept looking around thinking my eyes were dirty because it felt somewhat gritty. When I found out I was devastated. I had already been going through a tramatic experience with my son. He was born with several heart defects and mild cerebral palsy.

Have I been able to deal with this? I basically have ignored it until recently after the birth of my second child. I am not handling this very well. I am now 31 years old. I have a great husband who has all the faith in the world and my children are great children. I am thouch concerned about my son. He is having severe problems with his eye sight and I really hope he does not have this disease. He has enough to deal with. He is 7 and my daughter is 2. The perfect pair — huh!!

I am not happy at all. I try to get over this. I am a very independent person. My license comes up for its renewal in February and I just feel that is it. I wish I could handle this better. I guess I was hoping the doctors would be wrong. I was reading everyone’s stories and they seem to have accept it so well. I just want to see like I used too….

I recently took a position where I do a lot of traveling by plane. I have gone to places I have never been before. I am taking the opportunity to see and enjoy looking at the simple things while I still can. After being in my line of work for so long, I finally found something I like and know. Now, that may not last long. Dealing with that is a hard pill to swallow. I wish there was a cure. I am willing to try almost anything if it will help me. I just want my life back. I know I may sound negative. Normally, I am always trying to make other peiole laugh. No one really knows how much I am hurting inside. I try not to think about it but when you are struggling each day to deal with simple tasks, you see it is there. I am functioning off of faith and prayers. I am glad to know there are others that understand what I am going through. I feel I can gain strength from everyone’s stories.

My email address is: disheper@aol.com
Dishell