When Janet Gray lost her sight to glaucoma at 21, it was the end of her life as she knew it. But she was determined not to let blindness hold her back.
And she went on to become a four-time World Disabled Waterskiing Champion, before retiring to have a successful career as a city councillor, and a high-profile role with the police service.
“I might have lost my sight but I didn’t lose my vision,” says Janet, 50.
She was a teenager when her father and younger brother both lost their vision to glaucoma, which damages the optic nerve.
“It wasn’t traceable in the family anywhere so it was a bolt out of the blue,” she says.
Then when she was 19, she started to notice her own vision blurring and was also diagnosed, losing her sight two years later.
(Image: Getty Images)
“It felt as though my life had ended. It was traumatic because I suddenly felt vulnerable, even in my own home.
“It took time to come to terms with it. I lost two stone and was constantly sick because I’d lost so much weight.”
Janet lives with husband Paul,65, an electrical engineer. They were engaged when she was diagnosed – and it made her end the relationship.
“I didn’t want him to feel trapped or marry me out of pity,” she says.
But Paul refused to leave.
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“He said it didn’t matter as long as we had each other, and the wedding was back on.”
When Janet was 22 they married and not long afterwards she tried waterskiing for the first time.
“Paul was a keen waterskier and his uncle had a boat. The first time, Paul went out beside me on the second rope. He grabbed me by the life jacket and said: ‘OK you can stand up now?’
“It was just the most amazing buzz. The second time I went on my own and it was the turning point of my life. I found the freedom that I didn’t have on land.”
Janet, from Ravernet, County Down, joined a waterskiing club, and went on to compete at a national level, qualifying for the World Disabled Waterskiing Championships in 1997, where she won bronze. In 1999, she won gold. “When you stand on the podium it’s such an amazing feeling,” she says.
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As a full-time athlete, she went on to win another three World Championships. But in 2004, she had a near-fatal accident while training.
“I went on what should have been a routine training exercise around the lake and suddenly there was this massive impact as I was whipped at high speed into the metal jump ramp. I was airlifted to hospital, fighting for life. I’d sustained multiple injuries and was on life support.”
Doctors were convinced she would not make it, but she pulled through.
“Afterwards, they told me I’d never walk again but I’d fought so hard to get some independence back after going blind that I was damned if I was going to be left in a wheelchair.”
After countless operations, Janet learned to walk again and eventually started waterskiing again, until she retired from the sport in 2012.
She went on to work as a councillor for Lisburn City Council, and in April 2020, she became an independent member of the Northern Ireland Policing Board, overseeing policing there.
(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
“There are lots of confidential papers to read, sometimes couriered to the house in hard copy,” says Janet, who doesn’t read Braille. “I rely on a pair of smart glasses, called OrCam MyEye Pro, which provide instant text-to-speech translation.
“OrCam changed my life. With them, I can read the documents page by page. It’s astounding.”
And despite all the trauma, Janet still feels lucky.
“There is life after blindness. I have learned to make the most of every single day.”
