Mark Cross video transcript

My name is Mark Cross. I'm 36. I work as a doctor in the City Hospital as a specialist registrar. About February of this year, i woke up and I noticed my eyesight just wasn't as good, and I couldn't really see my face in the mirror. I contacted the opthalmologist who had been treating me and he said this was serious. So I followed his instructions and went home that weekend, which was just a weekend of complete fear, looking into the future, and this was my lowest point. My opthalmologist, Michael, had been seeing me quite frequently and he was very worried about how I was, both physically and mentally. Michael got me to promise I wouldn't do anything that week. I said "What's the point?" And he said "Well there are people that can help, give you advice and give you things that will help get you back to work." At this first meeting with volunteers from RNIB, they started to talk about their own personal experiences of either visual impairment or being completely blind. We came away from that two and a half hour day actually feeling quite enthused and hope appeared again. I had my eye operation in March. I spoke to Martin, an employment officer from RNIB, about this improvement in my eyesight, and he would initiate an onsite assessment. This was a massive turning point. The assessor's final conclusation was that I could get back to work immediately. RNIB's support to me and my family has been amazing. It means that we are a family again, it means I can sit and read books with my kids. This has been a journey I would not wish anybody to go through. Without RNIB's support, I don't think I would be sitting here today, talking about this journey.