Through Our Eyes: My Superpower

“It can be a curse, or a blessing.” Olivia Ballmer

….

Olivia Ballmer was driving down the highway with her oldest daughter in the car when she began to go blind.

Without warning.

Vision in both eyes became blurry. Her daughter was able to help her pull the car over, and Olivia began to cry out of fear for the sudden vision loss. All she could think of was how she’d get her and her daughter home safely.

Eventually, Olivia’s vision returned … at least somewhat. Enough that she was able to get her and her daughter back home. What Olivia didn’t realize at the time was that this was the first step in her journey of living with vision loss.

It Happened During COVID

In March of 2020, life as we all knew it was dramatically altered due to the global pandemic. Of course, Olivia’s life  was no exception. She had gotten sick from the COVID virus a number of times, which caused her to struggle with her own health. At the same time, she was also taking care of her children and ailing grandfather.

“I knew my health was declining, but I really didn’t care,” she says. “My grandfather had six months to live, I was taking care of him, being a mom, and simply surviving.”

“I went and saw my eye doctor, and she said there was nothing at all she could do to help me,” says Olivia. “She wrote a word on a piece of paper and begged me not to Google it, and to go to the hospital.”

Olivia would eventually leave her job so she could devote her full attention to her grandfather and her children, which she continued to do for a few months until his passing in December of 2020.

A headache, and a Diagnoses

For about two months Olivia had been dealing with a persistent headache that refused to calm down. It was during this time that she experienced blurry vision while driving with her daughter.

“I went and saw my eye doctor, and she said there was nothing at all she could do to help me,” says Olivia. “She wrote a word on a piece of paper and begged me not to Google it, and to go to the hospital.”

That word Olivia’s doctor had written down was papilledema, a swelling of optic disks due to an imbalance of cerebral fluid in and around the brain. While at the hospital, Olivia was diagnosed with a rare brain disease known as Pseudotumor Cerebri, which causes pressure around the brain to increase, which can result in headaches and severe vision loss.

“I just prayed,” Olivia confesses. “I prayed and begged God to give me at least enough vision in one eye to watch my children grow up.”

Not long after, Olivia’s prayers were answered. She found a doctor who helped stabilize her condition with medication, which helped her avoid dangerous brain surgery and keep just a bit of vision in one eye.

“At one point I was just begging my doctor to tell me I wasn’t going to die,” she admits. “I had been able to see my whole life, and now I had lost much of my sight, but I was tired of being sad, it was time for a change.”

Finding Alphapointe and Finding Acceptance

It wasn’t long before Olivia decided it was time to go back to work. What she found out – and quickly – is what anyone with vision loss learns: how hard it is to find a job when you can’t see well.

“As soon as I disclosed that I couldn’t see, no job wanted me,” says Olivia. “One day, I just Googled jobs for people with vision loss, and there was Alphapointe.”

“She didn’t talk to me like we were both blind, she talked to me like a normal person,” Olivia says. “She saw my passion and my drive, and told me that as long as I don’t give up on myself, that she won’t give up on me.”

Through tears, Olivia described to me the first day she came to Alphapointe and met our recruiter, Terrie Collins.

“She didn’t talk to me like we were both blind, she talked to me like a normal person,” Olivia says. “She saw my passion and my drive, and told me that as long as I don’t give up on myself, that she won’t give up on me.”

For the next several months, Olivia called Terrie religiously, checking to see if there were any available positions. One day, she didn’t call Terrie; Terrie called her for an interview.

Although she was terrified – but feeling she had no other choice – Olivia taught herself to drive, passed the driving test and got her license, then drove to Alphapointe so she could do an interview.

“Everyone at Alphapointe was so encouraging and that just made me want to push myself even more,” Olivia says.

She is now an agent in our call center, and she is doing exemplary work so far. She has even gone so far as to utilize Google Translate to handle calls in different languages.

“Ever since working for Alphapointe, I feel such growth and such a drive,” she says. “Not only has it put me in a better financial situation, but it has also helped me so much as a person.”

It’s important, she adds, that everyone who is involved with Alphapointe understand how much she appreciates them.  

Be the Person You Want to Be

In the space of a few years, Olivia has lost loved ones, much of her sight, and might have even come close to losing her life. But she has never given up. Instead, she fought for her children and herself. Now she feels like she has come out on the other side better than before.

“You have to realize that the person you were before isn’t you anymore, and recreate yourself into the person you want to be,” she says. “It can be a curse, or a blessing. Make it whatever you want it to be, because it’s not a disability, it’s a superpower.”

She says to anyone going through a similar situation: “learn to love yourself again.”