He's been training with a cane he's had to change his life in so many ways and that has been hard for him to do. 'The past two years have been difficult for Nathan. Mr Cummings during the cancer treatment to stop the tumour in his brain from growing further But he has scans every three months, and at the moment he is stable.' His 42-year-old mother Anna Hale said: 'Nathan isn't cured. He must now go to hospital every three months for a scan to make sure the tumour has not started growing again. On his road to recovery, Mr Cummings also battled sepsis and meningitis twice, and was diagnosed with Covid while undergoing treatment shortly after Christmas. 'Hopefully in a few weeks my vision in my right eye will improve even more. 'It has been a difficult few years, but it hasn't all been terrible.
'I can actually go to the cinema with my girlfriend now and do thing I wasn't able to before.
Mr Cummings said: 'It feels great to have my sight back. Only one of these surgeries was successful, partially restoring his sight in one eye which was then further improved through laser eye surgery to give him almost completely normal vision. Mr Cummings had a total of three operations to restore his sight, including two cataract surgeries, where a plastic lens is inserted to replace the cloudy natural lens. 'I had someone come out and train me to use a cane, so that helped me a lot.' I had a few falls off curbs, and because I'm over six feet tall I had a way to go. Other people could go out on their own, visit their friends and family - I couldn't do any of that. He said: 'I couldn't do anything on my own. The chemotherapy drug which kill fast growing cancer cells also damaged his eyes. Mr Cummings underwent two intense rounds of radiotherapy and chemotherapy at the Christie Hospital in Manchester in 2020.ĭespite helping to fight off his cancer, the treatment cost him his eyesight. Oncologists said it had already reached the most dangerous stage, meaning it was growing quickly. Medical scans showed a tumour, which had been growing for years inside his brain. Mr Cummings was diagnosed in 2019 after falling suddenly ill, dropping more than a stone in weight in just four weeks.
He added on seeing her the first time: 'That was the best feeling I have ever had, to be honest.' 'I still think that - even though I've got my eyesight back, I still think she's one of the most beautiful people I've ever met.' You're probably the most beautiful person I have ever met. 'When I first met her, I was blind, and I said to her: 'I'm going to look after you. Upon finally being able to see Ms Maywood's face for the first Mr Cummings said: 'She's one of the most beautiful people I've ever met. 'I walked in, and it was pitch black, and I couldn't see anything. I didn't really want to see it - I took her to say thanks for helping me.' 'We went to see Fast and Furious 9,' he said. The couple met on dating site E-harmony, with Ms Maywood helping to guide him when they went out, including to a few cinema dates where Mr Cummings listened to the movie. It was the first time Mr Cummings laid eyes on his girlfriend 25-year-old Samantha Maywood, with the pair having started dating after he lost his sight. The Mail has long campaigned against the current unfair system for surgery in the UK, which were a postcode lottery until the health watchdog issued guidelines last August to tackle problem, which had led to many sufferers being denied the straightforward 30-minute operations. Symptoms normally develop very slowly and include being more sensitive to light and thinking everything looks washed out.Ĭataracts can be removed by surgery and replaced with an artificial lens. People are more at risk if they have: diabetes, suffered an eye injury, take certain medications or have other eye conditions.Ĭataracts can also be caused by cancer treatment as a result of the radiation delivered to the body to kill cancer cells, those with head and neck cancers are particularly at risk due to the proximity of the eyes to the potential treatment site. The Royal College of Ophthalmologists has warned that due to a rapidly ageing population, the number of required cataract operations is expected to jump by 50 per cent over the next 20 years. In children they are much less common, with around one in 3,000 being born with them or developing them in childhood. Some 24 million adults aged over 40 in the US also suffer from the condition, according to figures. The patches gradually become bigger over time, according to the NHS, and can lead to blurry vision and, in some cases, blindness.Ĭataracts affect around half of over-65 in the UK. Cataracts occur when the lens - a small transparent disc inside the eye that helps to focus light - becomes cloudy.