Community stories

I have seen first-hand the impact that Glaucoma Australia's advocacy and awareness campaigns have made in the lives of my family and community, and I wanted to contribute actively to ensure that impact continued for other communities.

I first heard about the volunteer Clinical Educator opportunities at Glaucoma Australia from my university and have been volunteering since February this year. 

I was around 17 years old when I noticed my vision was getting clouded in the right eye, but this was for only short periods and regularly cleared up, so I didn’t make much of it at the time...

Whilst on holiday to Cairns in 1995, and trying to play tennis with my children, we noticed that I quite often could not see the ball to hit it back. I then noticed that I also had a problem with steps...

Two of my sisters developed glaucoma and like me, managed their sight with eye drops to lower the pressure. One of my daughters has now also developed the beginning of glaucoma...

“I didn’t know anything about glaucoma, or anyone with glaucoma. There was a loneliness and an isolation I felt when I first got diagnosed..."

Glaucoma is in my family and so it is vitally important to have regular eye checks and to follow up any vision disturbance, pain, redness or discomfort of the eye immediately.

Kelly Mercieca was diagnosed with congenital glaucoma at five months old, after her mother insisted that something about her watery eyes didn’t seem right...

Health-conscious father-of-two Shannon Davis sadly now understands why glaucoma is commonly referred to as a silent thief of sight...