【Positive energy】Glaucoma blinds her head and refuses to bow her head to fate

This Sunday is the first Standard Chartered Marathon held since the epidemic. Inti is one of the participants, but what is more special is that she crossed the finish line under the leadership of a front runner, because Inti She is a visually impaired person and the first blind female long-distance runner in Hong Kong to successfully complete 5 of the "Six World Marathons". She used to have a low self-esteem and closed herself, which made her regain self-confidence and life-changing. In addition to running, her husband and guide dog Nana are also.

At the age of 4, Inti was already a little girl wearing 400-degree myopia glasses. By the age of 16 in Form 4, Inti's myopia had reached 1,900 degrees. From childhood to most of the time, she didn’t notice any vision problems. He just thought it was normal myopia. It deepened, until the right eye began to become more and more dim when looking at things in Form 4, and then I went to an ophthalmologist for examination. In the end, it was confirmed that he had chronic glaucoma. Inti remembered only feeling scared at the time and cried loudly after hearing it. She said, "At that time, Mommy comforted me and said that the advancement of science and technology can definitely be cured, so I continued to live as usual."

After Inti graduated, she found a job in customer service. She found that every time she tried to copy the numbers on the computer screen, she always made mistakes. She began to realize that the eye diseases were getting worse and the range of eyesight was gradually narrowing as the doctor said. It seemed that there was a toilet paper tube in front of her, and the scope was getting narrower, so she had to quit her job. During that period, she had an accident because of this:

"One time when I was out, I obviously saw that the traffic light had turned green, so I took a step to cross the road. Suddenly I felt severe pain in my left foot. It turned out that the fore palm was passed by a minibus full of passengers, and the guests in the car heard it. I yelled and notified the driver. The driver immediately backed the car, but the soles of his feet were beaten again. The skin was injured and the bone was cracked. He sat in a wheelchair for a full month."

Husband becomes the best running partner

Unemployment and blindness made Inti's mood fall into the bottom. She began to avoid her friends, closed herself, staying at home for a full year, and then thought that she was only in her 20s. How would she live in the future?

"Someone suggested that I join a rehabilitation class for the visually impaired. I met many fellow travelers there. I was still 10% vision in one eye, so I was often responsible for helping other students out shopping. I thought I could help. Others, I am not the most unfortunate one."

Inti began to learn to use a walking stick, learn Braille, use computer sound software, and life skills such as cooking and changing sheets, but unfortunately because of discrimination when looking for a job, he still lost self-confidence, until he came into contact with running, Inti's life It will never be the same.

Inti first came into contact with running in 2009. At that time, the Hong Kong Sports Association for the Blind asked 10 visually impaired athletes to participate in the slag horse. Due to insufficient numbers, Inti half-pushed and half-placed and agreed. What's amazing is that she only spent more than 2 months training to complete it. The first 10 kilometers of life. She said that the initial training was absolutely difficult: "We have 13 visually impaired athletes in total. The training is quite difficult, especially for mountain running. Except for the hard work in hot weather, the ground is uneven and invisible, making it difficult to run. Sometimes running. Street, because we have a front runner by the side, passers-by don’t understand why we have to run in parallel, and they will think we are blocking the road."

Inti said that the runners will be matched according to their height, and the runners and the front runners must cooperate with each other. The swing and pace of the hands must be the same, but sometimes it is inevitable that there are fewer front runners than the visually impaired athletes. It may not be ideal, but Inti has found the one who works best with her, her husband. He didn't run himself, and every time he just took me to practice running, the coach once said to him: "Since you are here, and we are not enough for the front runners, why don't you try to participate!"

Running makes the heart strong

So far, Inti has participated in 22 all-Malaysian races, as well as countless large and small races. In the "Six World Marathons", she has completed the races in Berlin, Boston, Chicago, New York and Tokyo. The first visually impaired runner with such a good record, as for the last London Marathon, she has signed up for the race in April next year, which means that she is about to win the honor of running grand slam.

Running has changed Inti's body and mind. She said that sweating after running has improved her sleep quality. In addition, she met a group of runners at the running club, and everyone’s attitudes were very positive. Her self-confidence also increased under subtle influence. Moreover, the long-distance running training was difficult, which made her not as easy to give up as before. Have a new experience in life.

"I think that when encountering difficulties, we have to face them head-on. There are always more solutions than difficulties, and you will adapt to them after you get used to them. Most of the time, it is determination and perseverance!"

Regarding guide dogs as relatives

Running and accompanying husband have become the most important people and things in Inti's life. In addition, there is her guide dog Nana. As early as 10 years ago, there were no guide dogs in Hong Kong. Inti was selected as the first group of visually impaired people who can adopt guide dogs in the United States. She stayed there for a month to learn how to raise and get along with guide dogs, 2012 Nana finally immigrated to Hong Kong to live with Inti in 2005, is the first generation of guide dog in Hong Kong.

Inti described her and Nana as good sisters from birth to death. The most memorable thing was that she needed to go out for important matters during a red rain. On weekdays, Inti would first listen to traffic lights when crossing the road, and then give Nana instructions to move forward. Lead the way. However, due to the heavy rain that day, Inti could not hear the sound of the traffic lights clearly, so he told Nana, "If the road is safe, Nana, take me over!" As a result, Nana successfully took Inti to the destination, Inti. I think Nana is her eyes, and very reliable.

In 2014, Inti launched a book "365 Days Between Me and Guide Dog Nana", which tells the story of her and Nana's acquaintance and getting along in the United States. She will soon publish a picture book containing a number of short stories about her and Nana. At that time, everyone may wish to support it.