Hollie, a public health nurse at Watford General Hospital, has battled with poor vision for over 16 years, until receiving free laser eye surgery from Optical Express.
27-year-old Hollie, a single mum from Garston, has grown up with poor eyesight affecting her everyday life. Reaching a prescription of -2.75 in both eyes, she would be forced to wear glasses to get through her working day as a nurse and to carry out the simplest tasks.
Hollie’s career in the NHS involves working closely with schools and healthcare facilities to provide excellent care to those who need it most. Working around the clock, often for over 12 hours, Hollie would struggle with the strain put on her eyes from wearing glasses.
Contact lenses weren’t an option for Hollie because they would cause her eyes to become dry and irritated after extended periods of time and the hectic nature of her job didn’t allow for the correct upkeep.
When giving birth to her daughter, she was unable to wear her glasses which meant that she missed the very first opportunity to see her daughters face.
After struggling with her sight for long enough, Hollie applied for the Optical Express ‘Thanks a Million’ campaign which has been rewarding NHS and emergency service workers in the UK since 2017 with free laser eye surgery.
Following her successful application, Hollie is no longer dependent on glasses to see. Commenting on her new 20:20 vision, Hollie said: “Having to rely on glasses to see for the last 16 years has been a struggle. My poor vision significantly affected my everyday mood and lowered my overall mental health so to be offered laser eye surgery is truly life-changing.”
“With 20/20 vision, I can now look forward to watching my daughter grow up and won’t miss out on anymore special moments.”
Following a survey of members of the British public, the Optical Express Thanks a Million campaign rewarded free laser eye surgery to deserving members of the NHS and emergency service workers because the results showed that they are the most deserving of thanks.
David Moulsdale, Optical Express, Chairman and CEO said: “As part of our Thanks a Million campaign, since 2017 we’ve given away over £1M worth of free eye surgery to those who deserve thanks most in the UK – our NHS and emergency services. With recent times they’ve shown this to be the case even more and we hope that with the success of this campaign we’ll be able to thank more people in the future, in the way that only we can do. The individual stories that have come out of the surgery have been heart warming to hear. Hollie’s story especially, with her hard work as a nurse and a new mum deserves rewarding and we’re thrilled that we were able to offer her this life-changing treatment.”