Guide dog gives Cara new lease of life

A Galway woman who lost her sight as a teenager has spoken of how she has got a new lease of life thanks to her guide dog.

Speaking ahead of World Sight Day on Thursday, Cara Gibbons said it was only since she trained with her guide dog Uri last year that she has been able to move about with confidence.

An allergic reaction to cough medicine at the age of 9 left Cara fighting for her life and dealing with blindness.

She had a sudden onset of a rare condition called Stevens-Johnsons Syndrome, causing her mucus membranes to burn from the inside out. Her entire skin was burned from head to toe and left her with scar tissue in her left eye.

She spent months recovering in hospital and at home in order to heal her skin and rebuild her immune system.

Her sight continued to deteriorate but, at the age of 17, she discovered she had developed glaucoma as well. After an unsuccessful operation, she learned she would be blind within a year.

Her vision gradually became foggier until one morning she looked up to the bright colours on her wall she used as a guide and realised her sight had finally gone.

Cara struggled with her vision loss and never became accustomed to using her long cane. She trained with her Guide Dog Uri – a Golden Doodle – in 2013 and, for the first time in years, has been able to go out by herself.

Living in Galway, Cara has just completed a masters in Health Psychology and has taken on new challenges such as tandem cycling. “I always knew I would get a Guide Dog. Now I finally have, life is so much better.”

Irish Guide Dogs is inviting people living with vision impairments to apply for its free training services including the Guide Dog Programme.

There are currently 497 people who are registered blind in Galway and 11,027 registered blind in Ireland. All are eligible for a Guide Dog which is provided by Irish Guide Dogs free of charge. However only 6 people have Guide Dogs in County Galway and less than 2% of the national figure have a Guide Dog.

Read more in this week’s Connacht Sentinel