Hello:
My name is Tanya and I got my first artificial eye when I was 19. I was born with
PHPV only in my right eye, and developed secondary glaucoma when I was 13. That was controlled with medication until I was 19, when my right eye was finally
enucleated and I started this phase of my life.
It was truly starting a new phase, as I met my husband 10 days after getting my “good luck charm” first eye.
I can’t say that it was easy to grow up looking different, or to have to spend my
teens trying to manage a disease that certainly none of my friends were dealing with, but I can say that I had some of the best support around in my parents and
my doctor, the late Dr. Robert M. Ellsworth.
My parents, Jo-Linda and Dennis, let me live the wildest, most normal childhood I
can imagine, making sure I had the opportunity to fall off plenty of stuff to learn my depth perception (I can still see my mother cringing at me on my
swing-set).
We would spend the day in New York City for my check-up appointments,
and Dr. Ellsworth had the wonderful quality of not only making me feel at home, but making me feel like family.
I could not have been more blessed, until I found two of the best ocularists in the world! Darla Heckathorn near Pittsburgh, PA made my first eye and helped me
adjust to what was at the time a big surprise.
Margery Schreiber and associates are my present ocular family, even though I have moved half way across the
country, they are well worth the trip back to New Jersey!
My husband, Doug, from day one has been the absolute coolest person I know--from
being the first person I had to tell my post-surgery story to present day. He has
shown me the utmost respect, love, and care. He inspired me to push myself athletically like I was never able to do tied to glaucoma growing up, and has
helped me to see myself as a beautiful, strong woman; with or without my artificial eye.
Now, we live in Iowa (talk about unexpected!), but someday I will be back on the
coast so I can drive to Schreiber and Co.! I own my interior design firm, Simply
Creative Interiors, and I spend a lot of time running and doing soccer.
I play and instruct referees, but my love is refereeing soccer. I ref youth, high
school, college and amateur men's and women's, and I hope to soon start refereeing
semi-pro games in the USL league. And yes, I do laugh when the fans yell that the
ref must be blind (but of course that doesn't happen very often to me!).
If you would like to talk about eyes, running, or soccer, please email me.
Have fun!
Tanya
Return to Patient's Stories
