Posted on 01/20/2006 8:32:02 AM PST by van_erwin
A woman who had been blind for 25 years awoke in hospital after suffering a heart attack and found that she could see again.
Since 1979, Joyce Urch had lived in a world of shadows and near-darkness, but was astonished to find her sight restored when she came round after being resuscitated.
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Doctors have been unable to explain what happened, but Mrs Urch, 74, was happy yesterday to put it down to a "miracle".
She said: "When I first came round I just opened my eyes and shouted, 'I can see, I can see.' When I looked in the mirror I said, 'Oh.' I said to [her husband] Eric, 'You've got older haven't you?' But I thought, 'I'm old myself, my husband must be too.'
"The first time you look in the mirror you look at yourself and think, 'Is that really me?' But a lot of things have changed."
Mrs Urch had been unable to see her five children properly since they were young adults and, for the first time, was able to look at her 12 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. She said that despite suffering from glaucoma, doctors did not think this was why her sight went, although they were unable to pinpoint the reason.
"They did a lot of tests and said it was a genetic condition," said Mrs Urch. "Other members of my family have lost their sight, including my grandmother and two aunts.
"I had lots of treatments at the hospital but eventually went completely blind. It was totally different when my sight returned. It happened immediately and I could see everything straight away."
There was no sign of what was to come when, 16 months ago, Mrs Urch suffered a heart attack and was admitted to Walgrave Hospital in Coventry, where doctors spent three days battling to save her life.
She and Mr Urch celebrated their golden wedding anniversary last weekend in a way of which she had never dreamed. She said: "I love going out now. I can look around and see the trees and squirrels and pigeons."
Mr Urch, 77, a former coal miner, said: "I didn't believe it when she said she could see me. I said 'What colour pull-over am I wearing?' She said 'grey', and she was right. When Joyce first went blind it made a huge change to our life. Everything seemed to fall away from us. She couldn't do anything.
"She does little chores now. We try to do everything between us. This has given us both our lives back."
Their eldest daughter, Carol Obeirne, 46, said: "When she first came round we thought, 'This is not going to last, she is going to die.' Then she started shouting, 'I can see'. I was just so excited.
"My mother has never been given any medical explanation as to why she lost her sight, nor has she ever been offered any medical explanation as to how she recovered it."
Martin Breen, consultant cardiologist at the Walgrave Hospital, said: "I am not able to give a medical explanation. When she was admitted to hospital, she had suffered a serious heart attack and our main concern was to save her life. I am delighted that she has fully recovered, and it is an added bonus that she has also recovered her sight."
"Doctors have been unable to explain what happened, but Mrs Urch, 74, was happy yesterday to put it down to a "miracle".
She said: "When I first came round I just opened my eyes and shouted, 'I can see, I can see.' When I looked in the mirror I said, 'Oh.' I said to [her husband] Eric, 'You've got older haven't you?' But I thought, 'I'm old myself, my husband must be too.'"
Well...I suppose this proves that doctors just don't have all the answers...The shock of the heart-attack to her system, forced open another avenue, which included eyesight.
I am very, very happy for this woman...
Awesome.
Lovely news. Isn't God good?
Glad to hear that you have recovered your health. May the Lord be with you.
I don't know - perhaps because the US RDA guidelines are set for humans and not animals. How much vitamin C does a goat require, and how does that requirement differ from a human being's need? How much vitamin C does a goat get from its normal diet?
Polar bear liver contains many times the RDA of vitamin A - so much, in fact, that the liver is toxic to humans if eaten. The presence of a certain quantity of a vitamin in an animal might not be the best indicator of how much of that vitamin is healthy for us.
In this particular case, humans are quite different than animals and in fact probably need even more.
There are only something like 3 mammal species on the planet that can't make their own vitamin c. Humans and the upper primates, Guinea pigs, fruit bats, and one or two more CANNOT make their own, and get what they need from their diet.
So the amount a goat has in it's blood is what it's OWN BODY made. And it's body isn't gonna make it if it doesn't need it.
And I know about polar bear livers. The fact that a polar bear has that much vitamin A in it's body at all should tell you something about the importance of vitamin A!
Feel free to do some research before you come back and argue.
Done in good FReeper sprit. Good on ya!
About half a goat's worth, eh?
What are you, about 45???
LOL!
Maybe they should make Vitamin C pills in the shape of goats and gerbils!
Call them C-ranimals or something!
or "bump to the top".
You'll also sometimes see "bump for later read", which is sort of a
bookmark so the reader can find it in their ping list.
And sometimes you'll see "bump for publicity" or simply "bump".
Overall it's to either make sure the thread gets back onto the "latest
posts", able to find in your ping list.
Dr. Linus Pauling said as much. I've upped my Vitamin C intake considerably in recent weeks.
I'd be curious to know exactly what medicine you are taking (private reply ok).
Do you think there might be a shorter way to write that?
Anyway I call BS on that.
Well, I didn't read anything that said she had damage to her optic nerve. In fact, the Doctors were never able to determine why or what caused her blindness.
In the interest of said "miracle", it might be fruitful to try and determine exactly what happened to cause her to regain her sight...just so we can have other such "miracles" in the future..
sw
I had a prof who's theory basically stated that once someone wins a Nobel they usually go crackpot in a unrelated field. Something about their poop not stinking any more. I think he should win a Nobel for this observation.
Pauling also claimed that the organics leached out of the wood in the barrels was what made booze bad for you. Only drank Vodka.
great post.
what a miracle.
I'm sure they are beautiful to her.
Waited 25 years!
Must not have like her much.
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