Margaret Maxwell is a feisty fighter for elderly care.




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'I am isolated without my sight'

By Jane Elliott, BBC news
October 17, 2003

Margaret Maxwell Margaret Maxwell is a feisty fighter for elderly care. She serves on numerous committees and gives a lot to her community.

But Margaret, who is in her 80's, is registered blind and feels this has blighted the last four years of her life.

She suffers from a condition called age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which affects many elderly people.

AMD affects the central part of the retina and usually develops after a person reaches 50 years.

Almost a third of people aged over 75 years suffer from this disease of the retina and 10% of those affected go on to become blind.

Margaret says her life was ruined when she lost her sight.

"Imagine what it is like to go to a consultant and be told you will go home and go blind.

"For instance you don't know what you look like. You could look like a scarecrow.

"The most devastating thing is that you can't see anybody's face when you are talking to them.

"It is an isolating horrible experience and I miss seeing people more than anything.

"I have given lots to public life and I would have given much more if I could have been able to see. A lot of people are thrown on the scrap heap if they can't see."

New centre

Unfortunately, Margaret's experiences are far from unusual. Eye diseases such as cataract and glaucoma - as well as AMD - are common in later life. They constitute a major cause of disability and loss of independence for older people.

But help could finally be at hand in the form of an innovative new project set up in the north east of England .

Medical scientists from the Universities of Durham and Newcastle Upon Tyne have joined forces to create the first national centre for age-related eye problems.

The centre, NorthEast CARE, will carry out research into the major causes of visual impairment in later life - leading, it is hoped, to new treatments and preventative measures.

Scientists at the centre are already working on techniques to harness the restorative power of stem cells to repair damage to the surface of the eye.

Another project will examine ways in which age-related diseases of the brain can impair visual functions.

It is also planned to set up an eye tissue bank to aid the work of the researchers, who will include molecular and cell biologists, vision neuroscientists and experts in the field of ageing.

Dr Mike Clarke, centre co-director and a reader in ophthalmology at Newcastle University , accepted that visual problems of the elderly was an area that had long been neglected.

"Eye diseases are a common problem and this is a relatively neglected area," he said.

"NorthEast CARE is addressing this deficiency. For example, our recent work indicates that abnormal accumulation of a protein in the retina causes macular degeneration, and has opened the prospect of new treatments for this condition."

Margaret, for one, is a big fan of the aims behind the new centre. She believes a concerted effort to search for better treatments - and even cures - for serious eye conditions like hers is long overdue.

"Eye degeneration is a serious national problem. No money has been spent on it and it has obviously not been taken seriously," she said.

However, she also stressed that the work carried out by the centre would potentially help generations to come.

"Younger people must realise that they are going to be the older people at some time. It is going to happen to them and they are going to be candidates for this dreadful disease."