MY HEALTH EXPERIENCE:Martin Murphy found out he had glaucoma while working as a missionary in Tanzania. This is his story as told to FIONA TYRRELL
I WAS working in a place called Babati in Tanzania helping build a new school and water system. It was in a rural area and there was no power where we lived. Reading by night had to be done by candlelight.
One evening I felt that there was a piece of dirt in the corner of my eye. I didn’t think too much of it. In the morning I felt it was still there and it was causing a shadow. I went to a nurse in the local clinic. She couldn’t see anything lodged in my eye and told me to get it seen to at a hospital.
The nearest hospital, Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Clinic, was 300 miles away. It was run by a group of international doctors and, luckily, had an eye department. Luckily one of the doctors there turned out to be a specialist in glaucoma.
She told me I had open angle glaucoma. I was 47 at the time. She put me on eye drops. My sight was not too bad and I was still able to drive.
Two years later, however, she told me that the pressure controls in my eyes were gone and that surgery was needed to relieve the pressure and to prevent blindness. That was very dramatic news to hear. I went ahead with the surgery in Tanzania.
After 20 years living and working in East Africa (Tanzania, Zambia, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Malawi) I returned to Ireland. I really enjoyed my work there working on building projects and irrigation schemes.
On my return I spent some time in Clongowes school in Co Kildare, but I am now based in Gardiner Street in Dublin. Over the years my eyesight deteriorated. I was no longer able to drive and I was put on the blind register.
This had a big psychological effect on me. There are no words to describe it. It was like a sledgehammer. Despair and despondency can set in very easily. I had to give up lots of things I loved like playing soccer and table tennis.
Of course at first I denied it. I thought that the doctors were making a mistake but the doctors were proved right.
Three years ago my consultant, Prof Colm O’Brien, told me that my eyes had stabilised to such an extent that I didn’t need to take eye drops any more. I had been taking eye drops twice a day for 20 years at that stage.
I became involved with the Glaucoma Council and travelled around Ireland giving talks about the condition.
Being partially sighted does affect my mobility. I am also limited because I’ve had two hip replacements.
For example, I find it hard to see the number on a bus. I only realise that I should have been on a bus when it passes me by. Walking down stairs can be tricky too.
Having sight difficulties can also be isolating. If you are not going around with a badge saying you are partially sighted, people with vision don’t understand. I try not let it stop me doing what I want to do and I am hoping to travel to Rome during holy week with another Jesuit father who turned 100 last month.