A RETIRED carer from Malmesbury has been chosen to take part in a 'ground-breaking' trial to help save her sight.
Sheila Irvine, aged 68, is registered as blind and suffers from geographic atrophy - an advanced form of dry age-related macular degeneration where cells in the retina gradually waste away.
Malmesbury born and bred Sheila loves the town and is close with the staff at Malmesbury Opticians.
She first noticed an issue with her sight at 30-years-old when she struggled to see the edge of the road whilst driving.
Since then her vision has deteriorated rapidly, leaving her with no function in her left eye and only 30% of her peripheral vision in her right eye.
Despite this Sheila remains fiercely independent and lives in her own house with her beloved cat Charlie.
She contacted Malmesbury Opticians when a family member came across a Daily Mail article about a new microchip technology trial by a French company called Pixium-Vision.
After a lengthy application process Sheila was chosen as one of a handful of participants to be part of this exciting new research.
The former carer now travels to Moorfield Hospital in London every week to undergo four hours of training with customised specs which have a camera on.
A microchip is inserted into the retina of her eye which receives infra-red signals from these specialised glasses.
The images the camera sees are then transferred to the chip and onto the optic nerve, which aims to give Sheila the ability to see.
When Sheila found out that she would have to pay £1,500 worth of expenses she was shocked and didn't know where to turn.
David Canton, who owns Malmesbury Opticians with his wife Lydia, wanted to help so he set up a JustGiving page to raise the money.
They have raised 84% of their target so far.
She is currently nine months through the three year trial and is excited about her progress.
If the trial is successful, she will permanently wearing these special glasses.
Sheila said: "Malmesbury is a place that looks out for its own.
"Losing my sight has been devastating.
"I cried all day long when I had to hand over my driving licence.
"When David set up the JustGiving page I burst into tears.
"I am so thankful to all the contributions that have been made.
"All the support and kind words have given me a boost.
"I am excited to be involved in this ground-breaking research, I would do anything to get my sight back again.
"All the brain training tests are very tiring, when I get back to the hotel I am like a star fish on the bed, I collapse because I put everything into it.
"I am absolutely shattered but it has given me a sense of purpose and makes me excited for the future."
David said: "When she came back from the hospital and couldn't afford the cost she was devastated.
"She came to us feeling really down, so I thought lets give a JustGiving page a go.
"Part of why I wanted to help was because I know how important that little bit of vision remaining in Sheila's right eye is.
"Without treatment it will eventually disappear and would massively impact her confidence and independence.
"I love optics because you never know who is going to walk through the door next, it's not just a pair of eyes, it's the body around the eyes as well, we like to take the holistic approach to eyecare.
"I try to treat everybody as if they were part of my family."
To donate to Sheila's JustGiving page visit https://shorturl.at/ceyX1
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