Anita’s Story

My name is Anita Lambert and I’m from Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

I first learned that I had macular degeneration about a year and a half ago when I got up one morning and went to read the paper and the print was distorted. It converted from dry to wet about a year ago and one morning I got up and I had no sight in my left eye–it was black, which meant that I was bleeding actively into the eyeball. I don’t have that problem today because of the therapy that I’m undergoing. So my vision is good, but it is not 100% and probably never will be.

Macular degeneration has impacted my life in small ways. It interferes with my reading, sometimes my distance vision. Sometimes driving is difficult and it’s difficult when there’s glare or sunlight.

The things that help me navigate daily life with my low vision: first and foremost, proper light. I am an avid reader. I am an amateur genealogist, so that involves research, especially online research. Without the proper light, I can’t see a written page, I can’t see a computer screen.

I would tell someone who was recently diagnosed with macular degeneration to be hopeful. There are therapies out today that we didn’t have many years ago. So most people, hopefully, if they catch it early, can continue to live independently, continue to work, continue to read, and pretty much live life as they’ve known it.

I am a pharmacist by profession. I’ve been practicing for 47 years. So I am still able to work, but that’s because of the therapy I’m going through. I’m so grateful for the research because I am the recipient and most of us who have wet macular degeneration now are using therapies that were developed by this research. And I pray that this type of research will continue to be funded so that future generations will have an even better outcome.