Maria’s Story

Hi, my name is Maria and I´m 20 years old. I was diagnosed with Stargardts when I was around 12. It took the doctors 4 years to figure out my problem. The doctors first thought there was somethinhg wrong with my brain, so it was a hard time before the doctors figured it out. I have 3 siblings and i´m the only one with the disease. Over the years my eyes have become worse but now the doctors have told me that it has stopped (I see around 10% in my central area). I’ve managed to get through school pretty good, with the good support from friends and family. But sometimes it´s hard when no-one really understands your point of view. I´ve just started studying at university because I want to be a teacher. I think people have different opinions about me being a teacher, and of course so do I sometimes. Some think that it´s good and that nothing should stop you, and some think that I´ll never make it. Anyway I try to live life as normal as possible, the hardest part I think about living with this eye disease is the explaining to people every day. It´s hard to explain when you hardly understand it yourself.

By the way, excuse my bad English. I hope you understand something of what I wrote.

Please write to me if you ever feel like talking. About anything!

Take care!
My e-mail address is: maria.graas@hotmail.com