Doctor Finds a New Life

Doctor Finds a New Life

Donna Balaski

Doctor Finds a New Life Loss of Sight No Trouble Now

by Jamie P. Olmstead

From the Editor: This is the kind of pre-convention newspaper story that

any state-convention organizer would give her eye teeth to get. This story appeared

in the November 4, 1999, edition of the Waterbury Republican-American.

On any given day one can find Donna Balaski

outdoors tending to the orange, yellow, and rust-colored marigolds growing in

beds bordering her home. Friends, family, and neighbors often comment on her

green thumb, marveling at her Crayola-colored creations.

Even more remarkable than her way with

flowers is the fact that Donna Balaski can't see what she's tending.

"My gardening has become a true passion

for me," said Balaski, a Waterbury resident who lost her sight three years

ago.

Balaski, a facial trauma surgeon who earned

her medical degree from the University of Connecticut, was finishing her residency

at the Catholic Medical Center in New York state when she had trouble seeing.

While visiting her parents in Waterbury

for an anniversary celebration, she awoke to discover dark black spots clouding

her vision. Balaski, thirty-three at the time, was diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy

and retinitis pigmentosa.

"Losing my sight was the farthest

thing from my mind," she said. Falling into a depression, Balaski didn't

return to work and despaired over living in darkness.

"I took my sight for granted. I was

depressed and didn't know where I was going in life or what I was going to do."

At her doctor's office Balaski picked

up a brochure featuring the National Federation of the Blind of Connecticut.

That brochure changed her life.

Through the Federation Balaski discovered

options. She learned about the Board of Education Service for the Blind and

the Louisiana Center for the Blind. With the organizational support she needed,

Balaski headed south. "Just because you're blind doesn't mean you can't

go on living," Balaski said. The Louisiana Center for the Blind taught

her just that. Described by Balaski as a "progressive/aggressive school,"

the center doesn't take no for an answer.

It was there that she joined the ranks

of blind men and women in activities usually reserved for people with more than

a modicum of sight: rock climbing, white water rafting, and firearms training.

The center gave them an opportunity to keep active and the courage to live their

lives to the fullest.

Today Balaski leads a full life. Currently

working as a vision rehabilitation counselor at Ophthalmic Surgical Associates

in Waterbury, she counsels low-vision patients who find themselves in similar

situations.

"There is no reason for people to

sit home as I once did," she said. "There is a whole host of wonderful

resources out there, and I see to it that people are aware of all their options.

Doing what I do, I can help so many people get their lives back on track."

Much of her success in coping with blindness,

Balaski said, is owed to the National Federation of the Blind.

"If it wasn't for the NFB, I wouldn't

be where I am today," she said. "I've learned that life goes on. I

may have to do things a little differently than most, but I'm just an average

person."

She can even joke about her condition.

"At least now I'm sure that every guy I date looks like Tom Cruise,"

Balaski said with a chuckle.

In conjunction with Chris Boisvert, Balaski

has organized the 1999 annual state convention sponsored by the National Federation

of the Blind.