The Value of Early AMD Detection
This video captures the story of a mother who has wet AMD and her daughter’s concern for her mother’s future as well as her own risk of developing AMD. This reminds us that AMD can be a multi-generational issue and that the AdaptDx® and AdaptDx Pro® devices can help people potentially avoid vision loss through early detection, active treatment, and proactive management.
Transcript:
Rita Pickering: Seven years ago I went in for a normal eye check and, unfortunately, my husband had been going through a cancer bout and I sort of had let my vision testing slide and so I hadn’t had my eyes checked for probably two or three years. But everything seemed fine. Well, anyway, when I went in they diagnosed me with dry macular degeneration in both eyes. In June I was diagnosed but the form had gone from dry to wet in my left eye and then in late August my right eye became wet.
Pam Beitling: If we had known earlier the damage was already occurring there may have been some things we could have done that would have held this off a little bit longer and given her healthy sight for a lot longer.
Rita Pickering: I think this was probably going on during those intervening years that I wasn’t watching and waiting, wasn’t taking the eye [AREDs] vitamins.
Pam Beitling: AMD is such a horribly disappointing disease. My mom is incredibly active, incredibly healthy and to think about her not being able to drive, which is going to come down the road fairly quickly, and to see it whittle away at her self-confidence and her ability to just read a book – what she loved more than anything, it’s just hard for this daughter. It’s very difficult.
Rita Pickering: I wouldn’t want anyone to go through this if there’s a way to prevent it or treat it early and give people a better quality of life for a longer period of time.
Pam Beitling: I think it’s bothering me more than it’s bothering her. She has an amazing attitude and I hope I can be just like her when I grow up. I’m not doing a very good job at emulating that right now. I’m kind of at that stage where I still want to put my fist through a wall some days because it feels unfair. But she’s great.
Rita Pickering: I’m very concerned – I have two daughters and, you know, I understand that macular can be an inherited trait and so I’m excited that there is a chance for both of them to be tested to know ahead of time.
Pam Beitling: When I learned that we were getting this technology I said I want to be tested. I want to know do I have anything that’s bubbling under the surface and so I did and I worked really hard on the test because I wanted to get a good score and it came out perfectly fine. And it’s one of those things I was nervous about before he did the test and very reassured to get the good score at the end. For now, at least, I’m in the clear. Watching mom struggle has certainly changed my awareness and my outlook and so the fact that we can offer this to so many people and maybe get them started down a healthy path earlier is huge to me on a professional level and a personal level.
Rita Pickering: I do have advanced AMD and I wish that the AdaptDx Pro had been available for me years ago. Maybe I wouldn’t be here today. I encourage everybody to take advantage of this of this technology that’s out there. It’s wonderful.