ican Stories - Hannah

Hi, my name is Hannah.  I was born with a little eye called Microphthalmia and Coloboma.  I also have a one inch cyst behind my little eye.  I can see out of my big eye just fine.  I  have a tiny coloboma on the optic nerve in the big eye.   It doesn’t cause any problems so far.  I wear glasses most of the time, but not as much as I should.  I am just a little bit near sighted, so I wear them to help me see far away.  I just can’t see the board in class! 

When I was 8 months old I got very sick.  It was Christmas Eve and my mom and dad took me to the hospital.  I had a really bad urinary tract infection.  I stayed in the hospital for three days.  I had urine reflux.  Then my doctor said I needed to go to Vanderbilt for Genetic Studies.  The doctors determined that I had Renal-Coloboma Syndrome. I also was missing a pair of ribs. I was better exactly one year later and haven’t had problems since.

I tried several times to wear a scleral shell to make my eye look bigger.  I couldn’t stand it!  My eyes watered really bad!  I felt like water was trapped under it.  It kept turning upside down too.  So I decided that I liked my little eye. 

My only problem now is migraines.  I don’t get them a lot, but when I do, it hurts really really bad.  But the ct scan didn’t show anything. 

When we went to the ican conference in St. Augustine, we found out about a different kind of  shell for my eye.  It is actually a contact that is painted.  We have to go to New York to have it made.  You can go to the website,  www.customcontacts.com to look at the prosthesis contacts.  Since the cyst keeps my socket  full, I hope to be a good candidate for the contact.  I just want my eye to look like the other.  And hopefully no one will stare at me and I won’t have to have surgery on my eye.   Thanks for reading my story and  thanks for your support!  

Love, Hannah