A mother left blind after the birth of her first child has had her sight restored following a plasma donation.
Jessica Kent-Hazledine, 33, woke up two weeks after giving birth to her son with little vision in her left eye.
She put that down to tiredness but then lost vision in her right eye, leaving her fearing “the worst”.
But a year on, she said her sight is “so much better”.
‘I thought I’d never see my son again’
Ms Kent-Hazledine, from Cornwall, said: “I was a new mum, not getting much sleep.
“But I thought I should probably get it checked out, and the next thing I knew, I was having an urgent MRI and blood tests. It was all very scary; I was thinking the worst.
“When my vision went in my right eye, too, I was terrified – I thought I wouldn’t be able to see my baby grow up.
“I wouldn’t be able to see how his face changed or when he took his first steps or had his first day at school.
“I had been a mum for two weeks and was faced with the prospect of not being able to see my son again.”
How her sight was restored
After trying out some other treatments, medics arranged for a plasma exchange for Ms Kent-Hazledine, which was carried out by a new service run by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) in the South West.
In the procedure, a patient’s plasma, the liquid component of blood that helps transport blood cells, nutrients and hormones around the body, is removed from the bloodstream and replaced with donor plasma.
This helped prevent the antibodies in her blood from attacking and damaging the protective layer around the nerve fibres in her eyes.
Overall, she had five exchanges but said things began to improve by the third.
Now she can see clearly out of her right eye and has around 75% sight in her left one.
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‘It felt like magic’
Ms Kent-Hazledine said: “By the fifth [exchange], I felt pretty much back to myself; it felt like magic.
“It’s been almost a year now, and my sight is so much better. I still have some blurring in half of my left eye, but I can look after my son and live an independent life, which I was worried I wouldn’t be able to.”
Ms Kent-Hazledine was the first person in Cornwall to use the NHSBT’s new therapeutic apheresis service (TAS), which is working with four hospitals in the region.
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She said she felt “so lucky” to have had the treatment and was grateful to those who donated blood and plasma – encouraging others to do the same.
“I don’t think people realise just how much good donation can do – we all know blood can be used in emergencies, but it can also be used to help so many people like me,” she said.
“I’d urge absolutely everybody who is eligible to go and give blood or plasma – and thank you to those who already do.”
