Couple shares fondness for Association for the Blind & Visually Impaired Allegan Support Group
Marcia and Victor Marques are a loving, compassionate couple. They bond over their interests and love for each other, their careers, and overcoming, with elegance and wisdom, various challenges in life – namely, their respective visual impairments.
Marcia was born and raised in Michigan. She was first diagnosed with blindness at the age of two, after a case of the chicken pox lead to the discovery of her having Retinoblastoma, a rare form of eye cancer in children. After radiation treatment, Marcia eventually had to have both eyes removed to prevent further complications.
Victor, now living in Michigan with Marcia, is originally from Vancouver. Though Victor had always been diagnosed as “low vision,” he was still able to navigate independently without much assistance. He did not fully lose his eye sight until 2010, when a sudden and quickly progressing onset of symptoms from Leber Congenital Amaurosis worsened his eyesight to almost complete blindness.
Married since 2016, Victor and Marcia and each of their guide dogs live in Kalamazoo while working at Renewed Hope Health Clinic in Allegan. Though their commute to Allegan from home is a bit of a trek, Marcia and Victor make sure to always attend the Associaton for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ABVI) support group in Allegan as well.
“We would really like to see people who are… maybe reluctant to attending or trying new things come and learn about the group and have a place to kind of share their low vision experiences,” said Marcia.
Marcia, having been a member of this support group since its beginning in 2004, now attends with Victor by her side, as they both share their stories, experiences, commentary, and wisdom with the other group members.
“I see it as a bit of an opportunity to share and I like to share what I know with other people,’ Victor said. “I’m fairly proficient with technology, and I’m actually going into a teaching field, so I find the experience valuable to just be around people and share and help them if they need some direction.”
Marcia and Victor both have amazing stories and insights, and ABVI’s support group is the perfect outlet for them to share them with others. They encourage anyone who is curious about the group or curious about sharing their own vision loss experience to come and learn more.
“We hope our story can influence somebody to get out there and try and use the support of the vision support group, and we’re happy to be there sharing with people and encouraging them,” said Victor.
“Or even, crying with them when they’re crying, or laughing with them when they’re laughing,” Marcia added.
A strong Faith Community provided “new Vision”
33 years of dedicated service would provide any teacher with wonderful memories and special accomplishments with students and their families. And certainly, Ed has many. Unfortunately, his teaching position came to a sudden conclusion well before he intended.
“A passion for technology”
His career spanned 39+ years with Amway warehousing. While he had already lost one eye’s sight to life-long, degenerative Glaucoma, Greg demonstrated his professional resolve to help Amway with technology effectiveness.
Each morning when I wake up, my vision has changed from the night before
Brandon is enjoying a special time of his young, adult life. He’s 32,Both he and his wife are also successfully employed. He’s at Old Orchard in Quality Assurance and his wife is a kindergarten teacher in a nearby school. Together, they have years of life ahead as a young family. married to his college girlfriend and, together, expecting their first child.
“I’m reliving my childhood and loving it”
Brad ice skated as a young boy. He enjoyed the sport with family and friends. Brad also watched skating on television until his teen years, when his vision was still fairly good. Around that time, he was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa. As his vision gradually declined, he eventually gave up skating.
Brad’s now 50 years of age, and he’s back on the ice.
Confident in his own ability to live an independent life
Peter’s philosophy is to be active. His favorite quote is “if life gives you a lemon, make lemonade”. He puts those words into action, defying his vision challenge.
“Don’t give up”
Bill lost sight in his left eye at the age of 9, from a tragic accident. The tip of a fishing pole hit the eye. Then in high school, a baseball team member threw a ball it errantly hit Bill’s right eye. He was left with 15% useful sight in that eye.
These two incidents would change any person’s view of their future. After all, college baseball coaches were watching Bill’s pitching with the potential for a scholarship. That would never happen now. And it was especially painful because his parents didn’t have the financial means to pay for his future education. It would have been easy for Bill to decide that life didn’t have much to offer. But he wasn’t going to let these challenges dictate his future.
“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams….”
When your entire life has been focused on a dream, of working to help make technology more accessible for blind and visually impaired individuals, this is simply a statement of passion.
“I want to be proactive about my vision loss”
Lisa’s a busy individual…grad student, flautist, mother of a teenage boy and wife. She’s also doing everything possible to utilize her diminished vision, to live a full life.
“I got tired of sitting around all day, doing nothing”
“I got tired of sitting around all day, doing nothing”
In the early 2000’s, Vera’s sight was severely impacted by a detached retina in her right eye. And a short time later, her left eye was diagnosed with Glaucoma. Today she has a prosthetic right eye and her left eye has 20/2500 vision. Needless to say, Vera could have easily fallen into depression and stopped living her full life. But that’s not how she viewed the world!
Vera was referred to ABVI by her retinal doctor at a later stage of treatment. It was time she lost maximizing her “functional vision” with our help. However, Vera’s made-up for lost time in a big way.
“My vision change helped me see a new world”
In 2008, during an annual eye exam, my doctor confirmed that my Macular Degeneration was now at a point where I might experience difficulty passing the vision portion of my driver’s license renewal exam.
“Regardless of your vision challenges, ABVI will find a way to help you”
Twenty years ago Janet was diagnosed with diabetes and shortly after that, began to have vision problems. While she followed all of the doctor’s instructions, other health-related issues made it impossible to forestall complications. She was taking an emotional tail-spin.
“I was shocked when I could start reading again”
Joyce spent too many years struggling with declining vision due to macular degeneration and a detached retina. While a local eye care professional was able to help her with retinal surgery, her vision continued to get worse. She couldn’t read with a smaller, yet high-powered lighted magnifier. And she couldn’t see family pictures well enough make out faces.
Entrepreneur, Employer and 24 year-old who happens to be blind
Tanis was born at 24 weeks and weighed 1lb. 9 oz. He remained at Spectrum Hospital for 99 days after birth. His parents, Leslie and David, were told that he would be visually impaired or blind due to premature birth.
Living independently with Macular Degeneration
This past year, Jessie was having a difficult time with her night vision and reading the smaller words on traffic signs. She knew her vision was getting worse due to advancing Macular Degeneration.
“I came to my ABVI appointment frozen, but they gave me Hope!”
I was referred to the Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, by my Retinal specialist, in July 2016. Their caring professionals and staff made me feel comfortable with my problem, and helped me with vision enhancement devices. I’m now able to read my New York Times again!