Vicky – corneal recipient, QLD 

Eyesight is something many of us take for granted, but for Vicky, it's a precious gift to be cherished every day.   

Vicky was only 19 when she received a diagnosis of keratoconus, a genetic condition that causes the corneas to become misshapen. Initially, Vicky was unaware of how serious her condition was. 

‘I just thought I had bad vision and needed glasses,’ Vicky recalls. ‘But my eye specialist discovered the real issue. My corneas were deteriorating, which explained why my vision was so distorted.’  

For nearly a decade, Vicky managed her condition as best as she could, but by the time she was 30 she could no longer drive or go out at night due to her impaired vision. It became clear that she needed a corneal graft to restore her vision. 

Vicky’s journey with corneal grafts didn’t end there. A decade after her first corneal graft, at the age of 40, the vision in her other eye began to deteriorate and she received a second corneal graft.  

As a hairdresser and mediator, her ability to see is essential for her work. 

‘Without my grafts, I wouldn’t be able to drive or do my job,’ Vicky explains. ‘Being able to see is crucial to my work, and to making meaningful connections every day.’ 

Vicky says that being able to see her family grow is the biggest gift of all. She lives near her 6 children and 5 grandchildren, and says, ‘Because of my corneal grafts, I was able to see my grandchildren being born and watch them grow up.’