"We are all aware of the sensationalism created by the media. I'm sure you have all sat through a documentary or read a newspaper or magazine article and wondered about the accuracy of the facts.
Well, these were my exact thoughts 27 years ago, being heavily pregnant with my first child and having just sat through an American documentary about the health risks created by animals and how man's best friend was the source of blindness in children. I don't recall the contents of the interviews with the affected families, nor the children themselves, but I remember vividly the shots of faeces on the pavements and in the parks, the worms, eggs and larvae and the helpless, unassuming faces of the enemy - our dogs! The program was about Toxocara canis, the latest health risk to hit the streets and how it was affecting our children. I recall at the end of the documentary looking down at the lovely spaniel puppy I had bought to grow up with my children, feeling 'the bump' that was to be my daughter, pondering for just a second about the contents of the program I had just watched, and thinking 'hype yet again'. Those words were to return to haunt me 4 years later.
At the age of 3 years, I took my daughter Amy for a routine eye examination as she had been complaining of poor sight and suffering from a lazy eye. At this point she was given prescription glasses for short-sightedness and instructed to return in 12 months. Following re-location, we visited our local optician for her annual check-up who, fortunately for us, referred us to our doctor as he felt he was unhappy with the examination. We duly visited our G.P. who immediately referred us to an ophthalmologist at the local hospital, which happened to be a military hospital as my husband was in the Army. Amy underwent numerous tests and the ophthalmologist was very thorough. Although it was relatively rare at that time, there was no doubt she was infected with Toxocara canis.
It was explained that the scarring on her eye was quite old and, in his opinion, resulted from pre-natal or very early post-natal infection. Only one eye was affected but she was left with partial sight, allowing her only peripheral vision. This meant her good eye had to work harder to compensate and so the muscles of the affected eye weakened, causing it to wander. As you can imagine, I was devastated. The feeling of helplessness and guilt was overwhelming.
Amy coped admirably with her disability but has suffered emotional pain and torment over the years through the taunting she received from other children. She endured name-calling, teasing and the cruelty of being ostracised from groups because she looked different with her wandering eye. I then knew how those families must have felt in the documentary and the 'hype' turned to reality.
Routine worming and flea control were not discussed or encouraged all those years ago. Had it been, I may have been able to save my daughter's sight and many years of torment. This disease is a reality but with the progression of preventative medicines along with our encouragement, raised awareness and client education, we may be able to stop it from occurring."
| 
