[barend]

Blind woman recovers sight after heart attack
Friday, January 20, 2006

A 74-year-old woman who had been blind for 25 years awoke in a British hospital after suffering a heart attack and could see again.

The Daily Telegraph newspaper reports she told her husband: "You've got older."

Doctors were at a loss to explain how Joyce Urch, who lived in a world of shadows and near darkness since 1979, had recovered her sight after the heart attack 16 months ago.

Ms Urch, who was treated at Walgrave Hospital in Coventry, where doctors spent three days battling to save her life, called it a "miracle."

The newspaper showed the white-haired Ms Urch, bright eyed and beaming, in the arms of her husband, Eric, after celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary last weekend.

"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 Eric. 'You've got older haven't you?' But I thought I'm old myself, my husband must be too," she was quoted as saying.

"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.

"I love going out now. I can look around and see the trees and squirrels and pigeons."

Ms Urch had been unable to see her five children properly since they were young adults and for the first time she was able to look at her 12 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Despite suffering from glaucoma, doctors did not think this was why she went blind, but could not pinpoint the reasons.

Her husband, 77, did not at first believe his wife, but tested her with what he was wearing and found out she was right.



Article...

i saw this on the news (while on holidays) and freaked out...

i hope this doesn't get brushed off as a miracle and left at that... because this opens a whole lot of questions about the human body. This had better open a whole new line of medical research.

it's like she got rebooted, ctrl-alt-del, restored to factory settings, etc.

[floppydisk]

Holy shit!

Maybe it was something the doctors did while she was opened up...?

[barend]

"hmmmm... what's this? It looks like a light switch."

[Laughlyn]

You want really odd, another blighty news story broke in the last few days about some guy who suddenly recovered his hearing despite being deaf since '77.

Something is deeply fucked up in this country....

[Deepsycher]

I read a similar story some years ago of a blind elderly man able to see again. To me it sounds blood flow related as for the heart attack. Curious to think if that caused alterations to the blood flow in the eyes. Not sure if the attack was triggered by changes though.

What if there are ways for nerves to repair themselves but requires a change in blood flow, boost or some form of effect given from a heart attack?

This post has been edited by Deepsycher: 31 January 2006 - 07:35 PM

[barend]

maybe the problem was electrical.
and the atrial defribulators provided a sufficient surplus of electricity that enabled some manner of 're-connection'

maybe we should electrocute all blind people?

[Gobbler]

I'd go for the "decreased flow of blood"-method, just to see whether White Wolf's Vampire was right after all.

[Deepsycher]

I am unsure if the nerves in this case were self developing. Sounds right, the energy from the electric shock and maybe blood pressure could have forced the nerves to reconnect. Also a bypass or conflict might have occurred somewhere, is it possible to forget to see?

Yes, I hear about eye development but when asking about facts for prevention, I usually get told myths.

This post has been edited by Deepsycher: 01 February 2006 - 11:05 AM

[Dorothy]

To me it sounds blood flow related as for the heart attack. Curious to think if that caused alterations to the blood flow in the eyes. Not sure if the attack was triggered by changes though...What if there are ways for nerves to repair themselves but requires a change in blood flow, boost or some form of effect given from a heart attack?

I am unsure if the nerves in this case were self developing. Sounds right, the energy from the electric shock and maybe blood pressure could have forced the nerves to reconnect. Also a bypass or conflict might have occurred somewhere, is it possible to forget to see?...Yes, I hear about eye development but when asking about facts for prevention, I usually get told myths.

I forget to see all the time... usually when I'm really tired.

It doesn't make sense to me that the blindness would have been caused because of blood flow problems, because she had been blind for such a long time. It would seem if that was the case then it would be more likely that her blindness would have come on gradually, and a lot closer to the time of her attack, as her blood flow became worse. It would be interesting to know how her blindness came about and what exactly the doctors did to try to save her life.

As far as preventing blindness, information is scarce, but I think that is most likely because there is still so much that doctors don't know.

[Dr Lecter]

Maybe, we should all dress up like Zombies, and scare blind people into having heart attacks, thus they may recover their sight.

[Otal Nimrodi]

Consider Ms Urch. I kind, friendly old woman, who is blind. Most people who are blind, just go about their business, accepting their lot in life. But Ms. Urch is different. After a heart attack, Ms. Urch looked, for the first time in years, into the Twilight Zone.

Doo doo doo doo Doo doo doo doo.

[Deepsycher]

I forget to see all the time... usually when I'm really tired.

It doesn't make sense to me that the blindness would have been caused because of blood flow problems, because she had been blind for such a long time. It would seem if that was the case then it would be more likely that her blindness would have come on gradually, and a lot closer to the time of her attack, as her blood flow became worse. It would be interesting to know how her blindness came about and what exactly the doctors did to try to save her life.

As far as preventing blindness, information is scarce, but I think that is most likely because there is still so much that doctors don't know.

Did not mean she had blood flow problems, just at the time of the attack if there could have been any changes to the way the blood was pumped and in addition to possible nerve growth before, but interesting to find out the cause of treatment.

Maybe, we should all dress up like Zombies, and scare blind people into having heart attacks, thus they may recover their sight.

Don't forget the tazer gun as well.

This post has been edited by Deepsycher: 01 February 2006 - 05:04 PM

[Dr Lecter]

Don't forget the tazer gun as well.

Oh what the hell! It's for a good cause!

[Otal Nimrodi]

Yes! BRAKE OUT THE TAZERS! And zombie suits!

[barend]

As far as preventing blindness, information is scarce, but I think that is most likely because there is still so much that doctors don't know.

hence the barbaric proccess of apendix and tonsil removal still in oractice for some reason...