Doctors said 11-year-old girl would never see again, until she hit her head kissing her guide dog

Sometimes medical miracles are so extraordinary that they have no explanation. Lisa Reid, a woman from Auckland, New Zealand, lost her vision when she was just 11 years old. Doctors told her her condition was permanent, and there was no chance she would regain her eyesight. Surprisingly, at 24 years old, she bent down to kiss her guide dog, Ami, before going to sleep, and accidentally hit her head on the coffee table, as per a 2014 report by the Independent UK. When she woke up the next morning, her life had completely changed.

Proving doctors wrong

Reid lost her vision due to a cancerous brain tumor she developed when she was 11. After a complex operation, doctors managed to remove the tumor, but her optic nerves were permanently damaged. For 13 years, she believed she would never see again until one fateful night. She explained how it happened, "I kind of lost my balance. I hit my head on the floor and the coffee table at the same time." The following day, she realized she could see again.

Reid was interviewed again at 38 and said, "Nobody knows what happened or can explain it. I can't really find words to describe how it felt - amazing, fantastic. You can imagine not being able to see, and then you can, you can't really describe that. To see the world again visually is a gift."

Happy to see her family again

Doctors had no clue how Reid regained her vision. There was no scientific explanation for it. Some even suggested her vision loss was psychological, rather than physical. On the other hand, Reid was grateful for being able to see again, even though her vision was not perfect. She shared her first thoughts when she saw her brother and mom, "He was a man, with a goatee and everything. My brother's a man. When I saw my mum, I was like: 'You look the same but older.' I turned into a woman, and my brother turned into a man."

Reid used her story to raise awareness for Blind Week in New Zealand, and also expressed her gratefulness to New Zealand's Blind Foundation charity. She said that she would be "lost without" them, and added, "I’m grateful for what they’ve given me."

Very few seek help for eye problems

Vision problems are common in America. In 2006, an NIH study found that 94% of Americans above the age of 12 had good vision, and the other 6%, or 14 million Americans, were visually impaired. A 2016 survey by Harris Poll commissioned by the American Academy of Ophthalmology revealed 64% adults have issues with their eyes, but only 13% had seen a doctor for their eye problems.

Lastly, a 2008 survey found that 71% of the respondents said that they would rate losing their eyesight a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10. Reid expressed the same sentiment when the doctors told her the devastating news. She told ABCNEWS, "My ophthalmologist basically said to me that I was never going to see again. Having something so precious taken away from you, you just think it's quite unfair." 

When asked what she missed the most during the 13 years she had no vision, she replied, "Probably myself. And I don't mean that in a vain way, I mean that in the sense that I couldn't see myself physically, but… I couldn't see myself inside either."

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