12/11/09

Of Beauty Queens & Blindness

I came across this story today and I felt my heart sort of sink to my gut...

"Beauty Queen on Blindness Fears"
Story from BBC NEWS, Published: 2009/12/11 07:06:49 GMT

A beauty queen hopes to win the Miss Wales crown before a rare eye disorder robs her of her sight.

Nicola Thomas, 23, from Caerphilly, has been diagnosed with a rare eye disorder called Devic's Disease, which will eventually leave her blind.
Determined to live life to the full and boost her confidence, she entered a beauty contest in her hometown and won.


She now goes on to compete in the Miss Wales competition and if she wins that she could qualify for Miss World.

Devic's Disease is a disorder where the immune system attacks optic nerves.
Miss Thomas, an admin assistant, has already lost the sight of her left eye.
She first noticed her vision was going blurry while watching TV with her mum at home.


"I was just seeing less and less until one day I couldn't see a thing in my left eye," she said. "It was quite frightening - one minute I was living a normal life, the next I was facing life in complete darkness."

She had to take sick leave from her job with a finance company and spent her days in bed listening to music until doctor's diagnosed the disease.

"I felt trapped. I was used to going out every weekend and dancing with the girls," she said.

"I'm usually so independent but I was losing my confidence. I felt useless and cried a lot through frustration.

"No-one knows for certain when I will go blind in my other eye but I'm just doing everything I can to make the most of life while I can see. I may not be able to see forever - but I'm going to cram my life so full that by time I go blind I will have enough memories to keep me going."

On the list of Nicola's ambitions was to enter the Miss Caerphilly contest in her home town.

She said: "It was a fantastic feeling to be up there with all these beautiful girls and absolutely to win. "I could look out at my family and friends clapping and cheering. It was a brilliant sight and it will stay with me forever."

She will now take part in the Miss Wales contest next summer.

Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/wales/8407128.stmPublished: 2009/12/11 07:06:49 GMT
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Nicola seems like a pretty terrific girl to me. I do love me a beauty queen after all I have been one myself...well close to, 2nd Attendent at the Jr. Miss Dancing Queen of America (or something close to that) pageant when I was 10ish. And we must not forget my short stint as Miss Dance Biz where I represented the great state of Rhode Island, dressed up like a pink lighthouse (which involved a hot pink unitard and a flashlight on my head), and in which I performed an exquisit aerobics routine in which I also sang and jumped on a trampoline...all at the same time (I know, brilliant). But that's it as far as pageants go for me.

Wow! I got off on a really big tangent there, moving on...

This story makes me super sad not because this BQ (beauty queen, not to be confused with DQ or BBQ) is going blind, but because she really thinks her life is over when the blindness hits.

This quote made me particularly sad:
"No-one knows for certain when I will go blind in my other eye but I'm just doing everything I can to make the most of life while I can see. I may not be able to see forever - but I'm going to cram my life so full that by time I go blind I will have enough memories to keep me going."

Going blind is a scary thought for anyone, there's no denying that. However, it simply makes me sad that our BQ feels like she only has time to make memories and live life to the fullest with her eye sight.

I see we have so much educating to do. Education on the concepts that blindness doesn't mean life stops, it doesn't mean you'll have fewer memories, it doesn't mean a boring, stay-at-home life, it doesn't mean that you'll have less happiness and less joy and it doesn't mean you have to change a single goal.

Hang in there BQ, you've got plenty of time to make memories, with or without your vision.

2 comments:

Anna said...

Drama of the article aside, her attitude is really sad. Hopefully she gets some help. The media likes to play on the sympathy of the unknown horror, they should try some realism. Wow that sounds bitter.

Shoshana said...

You are so right. Blindness does not equate dependence. There are so many blind people in the world who lead just as productive, happy and successful lives as their sighted peers!