What my sight means to me

I've been thinking a lot about this question.

My sight is so integral to almost everything I do, every single day, that it's hard to express in a few words.

It's being able to do my work.

It's connecting with people both through the written word online, and face-to-face reading body language and facial expressions.

It's seeing a beautiful view or visiting a new place.

It's admiring the flowers.

It's seeing my daughter is safe.  Helping her learn to read and write and seeing her progress at swimming club.  To be able to shout proudly "YESSS" when she rushed towards me, dripping wet and bursting with excitement as she swam her first length "did you see, did you see, did you see me Mummy, didn't I do well??"

It's standing secretly at the school fence on the way to the shops, my heart missing a beat as I see her smiling and happy playing with friends on the playground.

It's seeing my other half asleep next to me when I wake in the night.

We perhaps know in this family better than some just how important sight is. Ruby is currently under a specialist eye consultant for a problem, and she was picked up as needing glasses.  It's made such a difference to her both at home and at school and we're hugely grateful she is receiving ongoing expert care.

We also have our uncle who is registered blind.  For many years he has had no sight whatsoever, having slowly lost it over the years due to a degenerative disease.  Spending time with him really reinforces how much we use our eyes to function in the world. He never complains though and spends a lot of his time visiting schools and youth clubs talking to children about what it's like to be blind, or fundraising for the Guide Dogs. Even the simplest of tasks or trips out can be difficult for him, even with the aid of his canine helper.  He has never seen his grandchildren.  He doesn't want to move out of the house he's lived all his married life because it's the only place he can still 'see' from the memories he has of it.

This is why I'm happy to support the work that SightSavers do.

Did you know that 80 per cent of all blindness could be prevented or cured. That’s over 31 million people, most of whom live in the poorest countries in the world who go blind unnecessarily. And with poverty being both a cause and effect of blindness, a cycle is created that can be hard for communities to break out of. SightSavers can break this cycle with straightforward operations costing £8-£28 or annual doses of antibiotics costing 7p-35p per person.  If you’re moved to give someone their sight please visitwww.sightsavers.org.uk/donate.

Find out more about the campaign by following @SightSavers #mysight on Twitter and head over to Baby Budgeting to see other posts linked up and find out why bloggers are supporting this campaign with their own personal stries.