Who are you?
“I live in Middenbeemster with my mom, dad, and my 9-year-old brother, Qiëll. I go to the Blauwe Morgenster Dalton School. I like to dance and swim. I also really enjoy playing outside and doing crafts.”
Why do you see with only one eye?
Her parents explain: “When Davine was six months old, we were told she had Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF-1). This can be hereditary, but it doesn’t run in our family. So, in Davine’s case, it was a spontaneous mutation. With NF-1, there is a risk of developing neurofibromas (benign tumors) and tumors in the optic nerve (optic glioma), among other things. Because of this, Davine was under the care of an ophthalmologist at the hospital. The course of NF-1 varies from person to person.
Davine didn’t start walking until she was 20 months old, but once she did, we noticed that she fell a lot. It was very different from her brother. It was as if she couldn’t see properly. She had the most trouble when she had to step down from something, like a curb, a staircase, or in an unfamiliar environment. Davine was still too young to say anything herself, and according to the hospital, there were no other signs that anything might be wrong.
Unfortunately, this turned out to be the case after all in late 2019. Her right eye began to look different, and it turned out that her retina had already detached, taking the macula with it.
“In early 2020, two attempts were made to reattach the retina, but unfortunately, they were unsuccessful.
Even though the retina is completely detached, fortunately, the body still accepts it, and so far, it hasn’t caused any problems.”
Tell me about the contact lens you’re wearing.
“Dr. Mark and Sebastiaan made a beautiful contact lens for me. I can put the lens in and take it out, and Mom helps me with that. It’s a clear lens with a black pupil in the center. Now it’s less noticeable that I have a gray pupil, and that’s exactly what I wanted. I just can’t sleep or swim with the lens in.”
How are you doing now?
“That’s great, but sometimes I do want to know what it’s like to see with two eyes. Now that I have a nice lens for my blind eye, I don’t get teased anymore. And people don’t say stupid things anymore, and they don’t look at me so strangely either.”
Do you have to go to the hospital often?
“I have to go to the eye doctor twice a year, and then I do all these little tests, and then I get to go home again. I also go to the Princess Maxima Center once a year for a day, and then I get an MRI so they can look inside my head to see how the little balls (ed.: tumors) in my head are doing.”
“When my eye had just started giving me trouble, I had to go there much more often, but luckily I don’t have to go that often anymore.”
What are your hopes for the future?
“I hope there’s a doctor out there who can still fix my eye!”
Why did you become a member of the OOG in OOG Association?
“Because of my mom and dad. They’re hoping to find out more, and they want me to know that I’m not the only one who sees with just one eye.”
Is there anything else you’d like to say?
“I never give up, even though I can only see out of one eye. I can still see a lot.”
