{"id":6242,"date":"2026-02-26T16:43:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T15:43:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/bibliotheek\/why-do-you-always-hold-your-phone-so-close-to-your-eyes-anyway\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T17:11:47","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T15:11:47","slug":"why-do-you-always-hold-your-phone-so-close-to-your-eyes-anyway","status":"publish","type":"library_pt","link":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/library\/personal-stories\/why-do-you-always-hold-your-phone-so-close-to-your-eyes-anyway\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Why do you always hold your phone so close to your eyes, anyway?&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-post-date\"><time datetime=\"2025-11-04T16:39:00\">04 November 2025<\/time><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Jeremy (34):  <\/strong><\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI cried quite a lot as a baby. Especially when I was put down. My grandma was the first to notice. She saw a kind of gleam in my eye. It looked a bit like a cat\u2019s eye. The family doctor referred us to the Rotterdam Eye Hospital. There, they immediately knew what was going on. It was bilateral retinoblastoma. My right eye was eventually removed. When I came out of anesthesia, I started smiling right away. It seemed like the pain was gone. That was followed by months of radiation therapy in Utrecht. I still have about 15 percent vision in my left eye.\u201d              <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"706\" src=\"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image0-scaled-e1772120351805-1024x706.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4364\" style=\"width:305px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image0-scaled-e1772120351805-1024x706.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image0-scaled-e1772120351805-300x207.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image0-scaled-e1772120351805-768x530.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image0-scaled-e1772120351805-1140x786.jpeg 1140w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image0-scaled-e1772120351805-1000x689.jpeg 1000w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image0-scaled-e1772120351805-535x369.jpeg 535w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image0-scaled-e1772120351805-360x248.jpeg 360w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image0-scaled-e1772120351805-270x186.jpeg 270w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image0-scaled-e1772120351805-124x85.jpeg 124w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image0-scaled-e1772120351805-55x38.jpeg 55w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image0-scaled-e1772120351805-817x563.jpeg 817w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image0-scaled-e1772120351805.jpeg 1330w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After that, my life actually went on pretty normally. After first and second grade, I started special education at Koninklijke Visio in Rotterdam. That wasn\u2019t a success. I was bored out of my mind. I started bullying other kids. Then I went back to mainstream school. I felt much more at home there. I was never bullied there either. I think that\u2019s because I\u2019ve always been very open and honest about my condition. If I felt like a classmate was staring at me, I\u2019d immediately say something like, \u201cYeah, I\u2019m very visually impaired. And if you want to make jokes about it, go ahead, but they\u2019d better be good jokes.\u201d That usually took the fun out of it for potential bullies.          <\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve never really struggled with the fact that I have very low vision. I currently work as a Customer Success Manager for a software company. That\u2019s where I met my wife, Zahra, seven years ago. We now have a family. Zahra already had a daughter, Emma (11), from a previous relationship, and our daughter Everly was born four years ago. I have a truly wonderful life. I have a very positive outlook on life.      <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;My work is primarily business-oriented. But I also want to make a difference in other people\u2019s lives. And why wouldn\u2019t you do that for the very group you\u2019re a part of yourself? That\u2019s why I want to put my knowledge and experience to work for the OOG in OOG Association.\u201d   <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Zahra (35)<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cJeremy and I worked together a lot. I did notice that there was something wrong with his eye, but he also wore glasses, so it didn\u2019t really stand out at all. I didn\u2019t realize he was visually impaired\u2014the way he did his work, the way he walked around the office. You couldn\u2019t tell anything was wrong with him. So at one point I asked him, \u2018Why do you always hold your phone so close to your eyes?\u2019 That\u2019s when he told me his story. He does a lot around the house, too. He\u2019s always cooking and takes the kids on bike rides through The Hague on our electric cargo bike. But it can be pretty tough at times. His visual impairment also affects our lives. Of course, he can\u2019t drive. So taking the kids to and from their sports activities and visiting family in other cities all falls on me. If we go to the beach, I\u2019m the one responsible for keeping an eye on the kids. Sometimes I do feel a bit like the man in the relationship.               <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1007\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image1-scaled-e1772120379879-1007x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4365\" style=\"aspect-ratio:0.9834086377522089;width:328px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image1-scaled-e1772120379879-1007x1024.jpeg 1007w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image1-scaled-e1772120379879-295x300.jpeg 295w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image1-scaled-e1772120379879-768x781.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image1-scaled-e1772120379879-1000x1017.jpeg 1000w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image1-scaled-e1772120379879-535x544.jpeg 535w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image1-scaled-e1772120379879-360x366.jpeg 360w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image1-scaled-e1772120379879-270x275.jpeg 270w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image1-scaled-e1772120379879-124x126.jpeg 124w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image1-scaled-e1772120379879-55x56.jpeg 55w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image1-scaled-e1772120379879-817x831.jpeg 817w, https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image1-scaled-e1772120379879.jpeg 1040w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1007px) 100vw, 1007px\" \/><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So we found the decision to have a second child quite difficult. Jeremy has a genetic predisposition. We had many helpful discussions at the Amsterdam UMC with the clinical geneticist. Ultimately, we opted for embryo selection (PGT process). Jeremy has a very positive outlook on life, but there\u2019s no guarantee that your child will be just as lucky. You don\u2019t want your child to blame you later for being born. But while we were still in the midst of those discussions at the hospital, I unexpectedly became pregnant. It was wonderful, of course, but also nerve-wracking. We ultimately decided to have an amniocentesis so we could be certain the baby wouldn\u2019t have any genetic conditions. Fortunately, that turned out to be the case.         <\/p>\n<p>Our oldest daughter, Emma, is very down-to-earth. When other kids ask about Jeremy\u2019s eyes, she just says, \u201cOh, he has a fake eye,\u201d and goes back to what she was doing. Everly is more sensitive. She recently started elementary school, and a child there made a comment about Jeremy. When he heard that, Jeremy wanted to go straight to the optometrist to get glasses, because he didn\u2019t really want to burden Everly with this. But in the end, we came to the conclusion that it\u2019s better to teach your child that it\u2019s okay for people to look different and that there\u2019s no need to be ashamed of that.\u201d     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jeremy is a prospective board member of the Retinoblastoma Committee for the OOG in OOG Association. In this joint interview, he introduces himself alongside his wife, Zahra. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5269,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_daextauttol_enable_tooltips":""},"library_cat":[113,123],"class_list":["post-6242","library_pt","type-library_pt","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","library_cat-personal-stories","library_cat-retinoblastoma"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/library_pt\/6242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/library_pt"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/library_pt"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"library_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/library_cat?post=6242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}