LIGHT AT THE END OF A DARK TUNNEL

This is not an ad. It’s not written by an ophthalmologist. This is my weekly blog Wandering and I’m sharing this information to hopefully help anyone out there with blurred vision or worse. 

Fact: nearly 20 million people living in the United States suffer from age-related macular degeneration. One in every 200 people get macular degeneration at 60 years of age. Suddenly, without warning, they can’t read the fine print on a medicine bottle or they need a brighter light to finish a Jack Reacher novel. The independent life they have enjoyed — along with driving to Hannaford’s for 2% milk or adjusting the temperature dial on the thermostat —is no longer viable.

That started happening to my husband Bob, Mr. Wonderful, a few years ago. He confided, “My vision is getting blurry.” Today, he has given up his cute silver and near-vintage PTCruiser because he can no longer drive a car. He needs the assistance and good humor of pals to help him locate a hit golf ball (even though he usually asks, “You mean it’s not in the middle of the fairway?”). He gamely watches SUITS and OUTLANDER with me but only sees the periphery of the action on the screen.

Macular degeneration manifests in two forms:  wet and dry. Bob, has wet which, unfortunately, is more serious and the leading cause of permanent central vision loss, aka blindness. Other than swallowing four tablets daily of Bausch & Lome’s PreserVision, there are no antidotes for wet MD — no needles in the eye, no surgery, no special exercises. Slowly, Bob’s world has been getting darker and dimmer.

But not his fighting spirit! Somehow, he still managed to sit at his MacBookAir and scour google for anything that could help him. He recently discovered the OrCam Read, a harmonica-sized device that snaps a photo of a page in a book or magazine, then instantaneously reads it back. (Proof: he just sat down at his computer and “read” his morning email. That’s not happened too often here in the Wells woods. The OrCam Read simply photographed the email and then verbalized it to him.)

The OrCam Read does not need the internet to work. It’s battery operated with four hours of power, at which point the battery will recharge in 40 minutes. It features a camera and an LED flashlight for focusing on the page, with four easy push buttons to start, turn up or down the volume, then power off. You can also plug earphones in the audio outlet.

While listening to the playback of the book, magazine or letter you’re “reading," you can jump to the last or next sentence. You can speed the reading pace up or down, or pause the playback. You can do this whether you’re right-handed or left-handed because the OrCam Read is ambidextrous.

They start in price around $1900, escalating in cost to include more features. Mr. Wonderful says, “The $1900 model works excellently and I see no need to spend more money to get features I may not use. That may sound expensive but to be able to read again is priceless … absolutely priceless.”

For more information on this device, visit orcam.com