Bryce's story

Bryce Campbell, 86, of Edinburgh, is a National Service veteran with glaucoma who receives support from Sight Scotland Veterans.

He said: “It’s vitally important to get support through living with a visual impairment and for organisations like Sight Scotland and Sight Scotland Veterans to be there for people with sight loss. They have your back.

“I was diagnosed with glaucoma 20 years ago and after a serious illness I have around 15 percent sight in one eye and I’m blind in the other. I was completely devastated and sight loss destroyed my confidence. I couldn’t do things like ride my bike anymore, and it felt like a fate worse than death. At first I was hiding in the house but Sight Scotland Veterans never gave up on me and kept encouraging me.

“Without the charity’s support I would have been absolutely lost. It was the best decision I ever made to attend the charity’s Linburn Centre in Wilkieston. I’m back to being Bryce. Everyone has been so supportive and gradually brought me back to life. They have taught me cooking skills adapted to sight loss to help me keep independent at home. They even helped me to experience cycling again through tandem cycling.

“I used to think that I didn’t need anyone, but when you’re going through sight loss and you have the support there it really is a huge help. It’s expertly run and the people care deeply about what they’re doing. I can’t praise it enough.

“Sight loss has definitely made lockdown more difficult. Especially when you go outside, it’s trickier for me to do social distancing and I’ll accidentally bump into people because I don’t see them, or they’ll walk into me even though I have my long cane with me. Even though the centre has been closed this year through the pandemic, the staff have kept in touch with me throughout this year, it’s been absolutely wonderful. I’ve had a phone call twice a week and it’s kept spirits high.”