A mum who had her eye removed after a trainee optician spotted something scary during a routine eye test has spoken of her nightmare.
Lynsey Schulkins woke up one Sunday morning with blurry vision in her right eye.
The 43-year-old brushed it off as grogginess and got on with her day.
But when the blur still hadn’t gone three days later – and she started losing her peripheral vision while driving – she decided to get help.
Lynsey, from Alton, booked herself in at her local Specsavers, expecting a quick fix.
Instead, trainee optician Sunny Hassan may have just saved her life.
During an advanced 3D scan of her eye, Sunny spotted something strange.
“During the test, they were asking me to read letters and I just couldn’t see,” said Lynsey.
“The optician called his supervisor in for a second opinion, and they referred me to the hospital as they thought I had a build-up of fluid on my eye that would need to be drained.”
Scans revealed a mass behind Lynsey’s eye.
Further tests at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London confirmed devastating news – Lynsey had a large ocular melanoma, a rare and aggressive eye cancer.
Doctors told her the only option was to have her right eye removed.
The surgery was carried out just eight weeks after her routine test, as reported by Need To Know.
She said: “Normally they do a radiation treatment on the eye, but the size of the melanoma meant I would be blind in that eye and could cause other complications, so surgery was really the only option.”
Now recovering at home with husband, Mike and children, Casper, 13, and Annabelle, 6, Lynsey says she’s just grateful to be alive.
She’s full of praise for the eagle-eyed trainee who spotted the problem before it spread further.
But if Sunny hadn’t acted so fast, it could have been a very different story.
Specsavers Alton store manager Tracey Reeves said the team were thrilled to see Lynsey on the road to recovery and have kept in touch with her throughout.
Her operation was carried out on 10 March.
The diagnosis was a shock for both the mum and her family – but friends, colleagues and the Specsavers team rallied around her with flowers and support.
Now Lynsey wants to encourage others not to ignore even the smallest changes in their vision – because her life was saved by a simple eye test.
She added: “If Sunny hadn’t spotted it and flagged it to his supervisor, things could have been a lot worse.
“Ocular melanomas can be incredibly fast-acting and aggressive cancers, which can easily spread to other parts of the body if not spotted early on.
‘It was very scary for my children. Annabelle was worried about her mum being in the hospital, and Casper was upset when he found out it was cancer.
“It’s been a life-changing experience, but at least I still have a life to change.
“I still get to see my children grow up, and my children still get to have their mum.”
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