Adelaide’s Michael Hutchison shares how losing his sight changed his outlook

Successful town planner Michael Hutchison’s world was rocked when he lost his sight. Here’s how he’s found the strength to enjoy life again and help others.

Michael Hutchison. Picture: Supplied

Michael Hutchison was a successful town planner when, in 2014, he inexplicably became blind in his left eye following routine surgery. Here, the 71-year-old shares what happened next to help others experiencing vision loss.

When I lost the sight in my left eye it was an issue, but it wasn’t catastrophic – I still had my right one.

 That said, there was a lot of gnashing of teeth. Why did it happen? Everybody just said, “Unfortunately, sometimes things go wrong.”

But my right eye was also deteriorating and I needed to have the same surgery on it.

The doctors said, “Look, it shouldn’t be a problem” and I had the operation, had 20/20 vision for about three days … and then the same thing happened.

In January of 2015 I was declared legally blind, and, by the June, I was totally blind.

Nobody had any idea why but, about nine months later, my surgeon rang.

Turns out I was topically allergic to the Vancomycin (an antibiotic) they used to wash out the eyes after the operation.

It is used routinely in eye surgery, but my immune system thought my eye was being attacked and it closed down the blood supply to my optic nerves.

What happened to me is very, very rare and the surgery no longer uses Vancomycin.
Everything that was our daily routine was completely turned upside down.

I had to stop work, driving, gardening and maintenance around the home …

That impacted not only on me, but also on my partner, Sash.

It was just really awful for both of us.

We were supporting each other, but we didn’t have any other support until I turned to See Differently and that’s when things changed.

Michael Hutchison and his partner, Sash. Picture: Supplied

Michael Hutchison and his guide dog, Roy. Picture: Supplied

My lovely partner suggested we both needed counselling.

It was fantastic, it really helped us to put what had happened into perspective, to understand what we were going through and the potential for things to get better.

We also had someone come out to the house to make things a bit more practical: “You’ve got to worry about that step” and “We can make that microwave so you can use it.”

I also had white cane training to navigate the outside world. But as my sight deteriorated, even though I could use a white cane, and I still do, I just started to lose confidence.

So I rang See Differently to ask about a guide dog and they said it would be a six-to-nine month wait.
That put me into a bit of a spin.

Then, about three weeks later, they said, “We think we’ve got a matching guide dog for you.”

Along came Roy, and he changed my life.

A guide dog is a companion. When you’re out walking, they take you from corner to corner, if there’s an obstruction, they’ll stop.

Having Roy rebuilt my confidence hugely, and that was a big turning point because it meant I was able to do more things myself.

About three months after I got Roy we were out at Norwood shopping, and I was with a friend who said, “Oh, there’s another blind person there with a guide dog.”

So we went over and had a chat, and the two dogs were chatting to each other …
When we came home Sash said, “That’s not Roy!”

It was one of those things … we had lots of little misadventures!

I ask Michael what he misses since losing his sight.

What do I miss? That’s easy. Just to be able to do things like get in a car and go to the shops … you have to plan, you can’t just do things …

I miss seeing people’s faces, how they respond in conversations.
We used to go down to the beach and, you know, watch the sunset, little things like that.

Now Sash describes the view to me, which is lovely. You learn to adapt and understand that things are not what they used to be.

I’ve learned not to be discouraged about what blindness has taken away from me, but what I can do with my blindness.
I’m doing things now that I would never have done sighted. I feel blessed.

I’ve met the Governor, I listen to audio books, I walk with this guy (Michael motions to Stirling, his guide dog since Roy’s retirement) …

I still swim three times a week, but I just do things differently …

And that’s one of the themes of See Differently; they want people who are losing their vision, or are blind, to understand that you’ve got to see things differently.

In 2017, I was invited to be on the See Differently client advisory committee and three years ago I was made chair.

Michael Hutchison with retired guide, Roy, and new guide dog, Stirling. Picture: Supplied

Michael Hutchison and his guide dog Roy. Picture: Supplied

In that role, one of the things I am passionate about is providing support to other people going through sight loss.

We were successful in getting a federal grant and have just implemented our Peer Support Program to have people like me walking alongside others who are losing their sight to help them through the process.

We want to build their confidence, independence and ability to advocate … that’s what we’re looking to do.

For information more information visit seedifferently.org.au