Having spent the last five years prostituting myself for votes in a variety of online campaigns for LPAG the playground charity I chair, I have to admit to groaning at having to do the same again – this time for myself. In fact, asking for votes for me to win an Inspiring Woman Award was farContinue reading “And the winner is…”
Category Archives: Blindness
How being uncomfortable is good for you.
As I pack my bags and leave Brooklyn, it is with a great deal of sadness. I was dreading this trip, yet now I'm at the end of it I realise I have had such a good time. My day yesterday saw me walk 16,000 steps traversing the sleepy streets of South Brooklyn hunting outContinue reading “How being uncomfortable is good for you.”
Patient H69: The Story of My Second Sight
Originally posted on The VisionHelp Blog:
Neuromyelitis Optica, or NMO, is a mystery disease. Although the cause is unknown, its pathogenesis has progressively become clearer. A florid autoimmune inflammatory cascade leads to rapid demyelination and axonal injury targeting the optic nerve and multiple segments of the spinal cord. This is the calamity that rendered Vanessa Potter,…
Patient H69 is off to New York !
It’s a week away and I am making plans and booking interviews, getting ready to head off to the Big Apple to promote my book. However, this is more than just a trip to an exciting city, I am fully expecting it to be a baptism by fire. I have not travelled abroad alone sinceContinue reading “Patient H69 is off to New York !”
Avoiding a shrink-wrapped world
I was thinking this week of the last time I did something daring. I mean, really daring and challenging…something that made me uncomfortable. When I lost my sight in 2012 one of my initial reactions was a bloody-minded outburst of, ‘if this is taking something away from me, it is giving me something back!’ ItContinue reading “Avoiding a shrink-wrapped world”
Rebecca Crane’s review of Patient H69
Rebecca Crane, PhD, MA, PFHEA, DipCot directs the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice at Bangor University and has played a leading role in its development since it was founded in 2001. Here she reviews my book Patient H69. Vanessa Potter’s book Patient H69 is powerful and compelling. I was transported into the detail ofContinue reading “Rebecca Crane’s review of Patient H69”
Second Sight: How I saw Judy Finnegan’s face when I was blind.
It was officially a bad night. I haven’t rested well, which leaves me worried that it might not be a grain-of-sand day today. But, doing a mental body scan I quickly assess that my fingertips aren’t quite as numb this morning. That’s okay, one step at a time, I tell myself. Because of this improvedContinue reading “Second Sight: How I saw Judy Finnegan’s face when I was blind.”
Patient H69 published today!
‘You could have a great barbie out there,’ my brother yawns as he pulls up the window blind, letting the early-morning sunshine stream in. He stretches noisily and I hear comic squelches as he attempts to extricate his sleep-crumpled body from the marshmallow chair. His fidgeting last night suggested a restless sleep, but I am stillContinue reading “Patient H69 published today!”
Books that light fires
I am well aware of the deep irony that as I am about to publish my first book, until very recently my children considered books a necessary evil to get mum or their teacher off their backs. I have battled with this, not wanting to put them off, but knowing they needed to break throughContinue reading “Books that light fires”
Mindful of being mindful…
I shouldn’t have been surprised but I still was. The irony that I was giving a talk on the physiological influence of one’s mind upon the body was uncomfortably present. I couldn’t stop the nerves, the jitters, the fear of standing on a stage in front of 700 people. Yet, the meditation, breathing and mindContinue reading “Mindful of being mindful…”
