Growing up, Theresa Fancher knew she wanted to work in the medical industry. She thought of being a doctor, but veered away from the profession because she didn’t want to be responsible for missing something like a problem on an x-ray or a physical symptom that would be readily apparent to others. Theresa was born legally blind with a condition that gradually left her with only limited light perception in one eye.

“I was born with Familial Exudative Vitreoretinopathy, commonly known as Fever,” says Theresa, now 29. “Doctors in my small Washington town had never seen a case before, and I became one of 25 case studies in the United States during childhood.”

Fever: The Rare Eye Disease
Fever is a genetic eye disease that affects the retina in the back of the eye and the nearby tissues and blood supply. Abnormal blood vessel growth and bleeding pull on the retina, which may result in scarring and/or retinal detachment. Once considered a rare disease, researchers now believe many people have the genetic coding for Fever, but that few people actually develop symptoms. Fever’s severity is unpredictable, and in Theresa’s case, until she was 15 she had ”good usable vision” and got around without the use of a cane or guide dog.

“It was like I had extreme nearsightedness,” explains Theresa. “I could only see up close, or objects that were big and bright.”

Preparing to be Blind
Knowing Fever was a progressive disease, doctors prepared Theresa for the future by teaching her how to get around using a cane, and how to work with a guide dog. Theresa didn’t need the cane until she was 15. When she was 16, the retina in her left, better eye, detached, leaving her with vision only in her right eye. The following year she got her first guide dog.

“Having a seeing eye dog made me a lot more approachable,” says Theresa, who doesn’t know that people are nearby unless they say something.

The Disabled Ski Team & A Career Change
When she was 17, Theresa moved to Winter Park, Colorado, to ski with their disabled ski team. It was there, while skiing and working at a coffee shop, that she decided her future career.

“I’d developed numbness in my hands and went to a massage therapist,” says Theresa. “The therapist worked on me for two hours and it fixed the problem. I decided then that if the therapist could do that in just two hours, that’s what I wanted to do for a career.”

Theresa raced with the United States Disabled Ski Team in the 1998 Paralympic Games in Nagano, Japan, and then raced on the team for two years, which she says was the best growing experience she ever had.

“I learned a lot about life and people and group dynamics, and I made some great friends,” she says.

When she was 20, Theresa moved to Denver and enrolled in the massage therapy program at the Colorado School of Healing Arts. She now works as a massage therapist helping rehabilitate people with injuries. While she doesn’t know if being vision impaired helps her do her work, she says it does make people feel more comfortable.

Does Being Blind Make for a Better Massage?
“I get asked all the time if being blind helps me be a better massage therapist.” she says. “I think what helps is being able to relate to people and to listen to them and think through their symptoms. Having a vision impairment seems to take down people’s guard since they realize they don’t need to look a certain way.”

Theresa’s advice for others living with vision impairment is to learn about today’s technology, like GPS systems and computer screen readers, and to keep looking for the right doctors.

“Don’t settle for what one person tells you,” she says.

Visit Familial Exudative Vitreoretinopathy for more information.

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