A bride-to-be was forced to put her wedding on hold after a mystery illness meant she suddenly went BLIND.
Alex Lucas, 23, had been shopping for furniture to decorate the flat she was setting up with her fiance Scott Turner, 24, when “everything went dark.”
The beautician now has to use a white stick to help her walk and can’t even recognise her partner’s face from across the room.
Alex first started to notice her vision was going blurry in her right eye a few months before she went blind last May.
She was sent to a specialist hospital after opticians were concerned her glasses weren’t correcting the problem – which had also spread to her left eye.
Alex had a range of treatments including steroid drips and a plasma exchange but doctors were baffled about what was causing her blurry vision.
She then lost her sight completely after she was forced to come home from work one day with an “incredible headache.”
Medics told Alex she had suffered debilitating optic nerve damage – which has left her partially sighted – but have been unable to find what has caused it.
The couple have now had to put her wedding plans on hold as they try to raise funds for an operation in Germany that could save her sight.
Today (Mon), Alex, who lives in Northfield, Birmingham, said it felt like a veil had been drawn across her world.
She added: “Scott and I were about to go out and get some things for the flat.
“That’s when it happened. I told Scott that I couldn’t see anything.
“I said: ‘I can’t see! I can’t see your face’.
“He took me to catch a bus to go to hospital but I couldn’t see the bus even though it was right in front of me.
“I am now part-sighted so I can sort of see the world around me but it has changed so much.
“I described it to people by saying it is like I can see everything but through a really thick veil.
“I can only see people’s faces if they are really really close to me. If they are across the room I can’t see them at all.
“I have to remind people that I can’t see if they are nodding or shaking their head.
“Colours have completely changed too. I can’t see green, it just looks like red to me.
“Everything is just really blurry and it has affected my whole life.”
Alex got engaged to Scott on Valentine’s Day last year and the couple had just bought their first home together when she lost her sight a few months later in May.
Doctors initially thought she might have optic neuritis, which can be an early sign of multiple sclerosis, but that was ruled out.
They still don’t know what caused the optic nerve damage almost a year later and have told Alex all they can do is monitor her every few months.
Alex added: “In early January last year I noticed that in my right eye my vision was going really blurry.
“I was sent to an optician but they became concerned that the glasses were not correcting anything so they referred me to the eye hospital.
“I had steroid drips, a lumbar puncture and a plasma exchange and had about 24 vials of blood taken.
“Then in May I was at work and had this incredible headache so I went home and that is when my sight went.
“The doctors have told me they don’t know what it is that has caused the nerve damage.
“I am still being monitored to make sure it doesn’t get worse but there is nothing else they can do.
“They don’t know what it is so all they can say is just carry on and live your life.”
Alex was forced to give up her job as a beautician when she lost her sight and is now dependent on her fiance Scott who acts as her “little guide dog”.
She added: “About seven months after it happened it suddenly hit me and I had a massive breakdown.
“I was asking myself: ‘What if I never get my sight back again?’
“It’s nearly a year on and you’re still at the point where you think maybe it will come back.
“But there is massive part of you that thinks: ‘What if I’m like this for the rest of my life?’
“It’s really hard to stay positive but you just have to keep going.
“I don’t know where I would be without Scott considering we only met four years ago.
“He’s like a little guide dog for me.
“When my sight went we had just got engaged. Now the wedding plans have had to be put back.
“I have lost count of the number of times I have said to Scott: ‘I am so sorry, you had a fiance and now you’ve got a dependant’.
“He just looks at me and says: ‘Whatever it takes’.
“I can’t fault him and I don’t know how he copes but he wants to do whatever it takes to get my sight back.
“He is always thinking of ways to make things easier for me.”
The couple are now trying to raise £6,500 for treatment at the Restore Vision Clinic in Berli, which works by rewiring the brain into repairing the nerve damage itself.
Alex, who has already raised £3,800 towards her target, added: “Scott is one of those people who won’t take no for an answer.
“We have been in touch with the mum of someone in Britain who had it and it worked with them.
“We’ve got appointments reserved, we just need to make sure we have the money so we can afford to fly and stay there and have the treatment.”
To make a donation visit – www.gofundme.com/getalextogermany
