A BLIND woman is backing a charity campaign to ensure support for patients losing their sight.

Cllr Jenny Molineux, who works at Royal Blackburn and Burnley General hospitals and is also a borough and county councillor, has an eye condition called Reverse Retinitis Pigmentosa and is registered blind.

The 35-year-old has told how she was born with a degenerative genetic condition but wasn’t diagnosed with Reverse Retinitis Pigmentosa until she was 21.

Cllr Molineux has used her own experience to become an eye clinic liaison officer (ECLO) at the hospitals.

Her role sees her work alongside health professionals in eye clinics to offer support and advice to blind and partially sighted people.

Cllr Molineux, from Great Harwood, said: “I was born with a degenerative genetic condition but I didn’t start showing symptoms until I was seven.

“I was misdiagnosed with dyslexia and they knew something was wrong.

“At 19 I was then misdiagnosed with premature macular degeneration which can result in blurred or no vision in the centre of the visual field and I was registered as partially sighted.

“But after two years of tests at Manchester eye hospital, I was diagnosed at the age of 21 with Reverse Retinitis Pigmentosa.”

Cllr Molineux said it was quite a shock for her to be diagnosed at such a young age.

She said: “I was at university and at that age you have your whole life ahead of you and you don’t expect it.

“But I’ve not let it stop me and I’ve used my own experience to help others.

“The condition is degenerative so my sight is getting worse.

“I have some light perception in my right eye which means I can see some light and dark shadows.

“In the left eye, I have limited peripheral vision which means I have no central vision and can’t see anything at all straight in front of me.

“I have a five-year-old old guide dog called Oscar and am a user of a long white cane when Oscar isn’t up to it.”

It is almost two years since Cllr Molineux became an ECLO and she is backing a campaign by the Royal National Institute of Blind People to ensure that patients losing their sight get the support they need.

Statistics, from January 2019, show that 43 per cent of the top 150 NHS Trusts in England have no trained ECLO. In hospitals where there are ECLOs, each one provides support to at least 600 patients, plus 200 relatives, each year.

Cllr Molineux added: “ECLOs provide such a vital role in breaking down barriers for people with sight loss. A huge barrier is fear.

“It’s a feeling I personally know well: fear of the unknown and panic about what the future holds for you after your diagnosis. By teaching people new skills and showing them a new way of looking at things, ECLOs empower people to turn their fear into a ‘can do’ attitude.”

Support Cllr Molineux via www.rnib.org.uk/jenny