Lisa Reid, from Auckland, New Zealand, lost her sight at age 11 due to a tumor pressing on her optic nerve. For 13 years she lived in darkness, guided by her dog Ami.
One ordinary night, at age 24, she knelt down to give her guide dog a goodnight kiss and hit her head on a coffee table. She went to sleep without thinking much of it. The next morning, she opened her eyes and could see.
No one in medicine was able to explain the exact mechanism of the recovery. Reid describes the visual reunion with her family: her brother, whom she had not seen since age 13, was now a man with a goatee; her mother looked the same but older. Today, at age 38 and as a mother, she shares her story for Blind Week in New Zealand, in honor of the foundation that supported her all that time.
