See the miracle of a mom getting her sight back after a misdiagnosis left her blind for 15 years

Imagine being accidentally left in the dark for 15 years. That was the nightmare scenario faced by Connie Parke of Aurora, Colorado. 

In 2003, Connie began noticing changes in her vision. A visit to an eye doctor in Montana, where she was living and working, produced alarming news. Connie was going blind.  

See the moment when Connie’s 15 years in the shadows miraculously came to an end in the player above.  

Doctors initially diagnosed her with glaucoma, a condition in which abnormally high pressure on the eye damages the optic nerve. Subsequent visits to other doctors put the blame on detached retinas, and Connie was told her condition was inoperable. 

The prospect of going blind was scary and devastating. It didn’t truly sink in until Connie began hurting herself, burning her hand on the stove, or bumping into walls.  

Within a few months, Connie lost 85% of her vision and was resigned to her fate. 

She relocated to Colorado to attend a school for the visually impaired, where she learned braille and how to cope as a blind person. 

Connie did her best to be as active and upbeat as she was before her eyesight failed. But in 2018, during a routine visit to the UCHealth Sue Anschutz-Rodgers Eye Center in Denver, she was floored by a stunning revelation. 

Ophthalmologist, Dr. Jeffrey SooHoo, told Connie she’d been misdiagnosed. After two cataract removal surgeries, suddenly, her future looked bright.