New thread: as I look back on it being 12 months since I was diagnosed with a brain tumour that ultimately resulted in me completely losing my eyesight, wanted to share some reflections and some of what happened…

Last summer, I went from having good eyesight, to developing a light spotting in front of my vision, this progressively got worse. By the end of July I was unable to leave my flat on my own. I went to the nearby Moorfield trust for help.

They could not identify any issues with my eyes. So referred me to neuro ophthalmology, on the NHS that would have taken until November, so I went private. Was sent for a brain scan which showed up the tumour.

Was sent to meet a brain surgeon, who explained the tumour was about 3 cm in size, and that I needed surgery as quickly as possible. By this point, I was unable to use social media or really keep in contact with friends

On the 26th of September I had a 9 1/2 hour long surgery, with a right-sided craniotomy. The surgeon was able to remove 97% of the mass. I spent the next two days in intensive care. After another four days I was sent home.

Waking up in intensive care, disorientated, with a tube coming out of your head, with allsorts of other equipment attached to you, was terrifying. The nurses however were incredible and their care. Upside of private hospital, the food.

By the start of October I had gone back to Scotland to rest. My body was physically exhausted from the surgery. With no improvement in my eyesight, I couldn’t use my phone other than to make and receive phone calls and listen to music.

A friend visited at the end of November, this give me the motivation to start figuring things out, step one, A call to @RNIB From that call, things started to move forward for the first time

@RNIB arranged for me to have a call with the technology team to start learning about voice-over controls on my iPhone. This was revolutionary. Within two weeks I was able to start using Facebook and other social media platforms again to contact my friends

By January, I was ready to make the move back down to London. It was time to start figuring out how I was going to be independent. This was completely terrifying

As I moved back down to London, I started to research which organisations are out there that could provide me with help and support. That is how I first came across the brilliant people at @Vision_Fdn Who pointed me towards local support groups

In February I moved into a one-bedroom flat on my own, I had started going to spin class on my own and making my way around London. It was all starting to feel as if I could do this, I could make my own way forward and figure things out for myself. Then, the pandemic

Lockdown. Literally. As some friends evacuated the city, immediate problems appeared, how to get food, how to get cigarettes, all of my progress stopped in its tracks. My saving grace, social media

By the second week, I was quickly running out of food, the government said I wasn’t vulnerable enough for support, supermarkets couldn’t deliver, it was getting bad very quickly. Phone calls to various charities, provided little comfort.

Twitter to the rescue. The social media team at @GingerPigLtd gave me their number and took my order over the phone, even got food delivered to me the same day. Champions

@CutTheMustardUK were also incredible, delivering a massive box of fruit, vegetables and baked items to me on a Sunday when I wasn’t gonna be able to pay them until the Monday. In the kind words of Jimmy, if you need it today you are getting it today. Legend

All of this food, got me thinking, time to restart my passion for proper cooking, that led to me starting my Instagram account the blind foodie. I also started making videos really from my friends talking about my experiences of sight loss

Doing the videos then led to a conversation that got me more involved with @Vision_Fdn making a video with them for their blind lockdown life campaign.

As I started to tweet about the challenges I was having, I started to make contact with other people who had similar problems, experiences, challenges. I still cannot explain suitably how much this helped me at that time

Just a few of the people who have helped me: @kayteebeexx @barton_kell @BlondeHistorian @SassyWyatt @leahtova @blind_but_sound @JonAttenborough @BlindDad_Uk there are many more

What I have learned is that this is an incredibly supportive community at its best, that a problem shared is often a problem halved. That when I face challenges, this community is there with suggestions, help and support

What’s next? Some pretty exciting opportunities. My intention, is to be a positive force to help ensure there was not able to make themselves heard get the support they deserve.

If, somehow you are still reading this as this has gone on longer than I intended, thank you. I will do my best to be the best version of myself that I can be