My name is Jenny (actually Jennifer), I was born in 1990 and had a retinoblastoma when I was 2 ½ years old, after which my right eye was removed.
I was born in Essen and grew up in the neighboring town of Velbert.
Today, I have both feet firmly on the ground and am (almost) perfectly happy ☺.
I live with my boyfriend in Duisburg, just a 15-minute drive from Essen University Hospital, which we all know;).
I am the oldest of 4 sisters, but luckily the only one who is ill.
It would be much worse for me if one of my sisters was affected – as someone who is affected myself, I don’t feel quite so helpless and can take control of my own life.
I am an absolute family man and love living here in the Ruhr region!
I don’t really let my illness play too big a role in my life, but it’s true that you are confronted with its effects from time to time. It’s just part of it and has helped me to develop a very special and conscious attitude to life. I live my everyday life very intensively and with pleasure☺ I travel a lot and enjoy going to the gym with my boyfriend, meeting friends and love dogs and horses. After graduating from high school, I studied international agricultural trade in the Netherlands for 4 years and now work in sales for a large food company.
This summer (2018) I’m getting married to my boyfriend :).
My great love and the person who is always by my side and gives me a lot of strength.
Last year I had another tough time when I got a severe thrombosis out of nowhere, but now everything is fine again.
You become humble….
This is exactly why I always try to remind myself how fragile health is and how much you should appreciate every day as a healthy and happy person.
As a child and teenager, you sometimes struggle with your fate and feel uncomfortable in your own skin when you only have one eye, but now I’m really good with it.
There are hardly any moments when it still nags at me a little – they get fewer and fewer as the years go by.
I’m sure it would have helped me if I had personally known someone with a glass eye in my childhood/puberty who was a few years older and had already gone through everything with growing up and things like first love, etc .
That’s why I think your initiative is great :).

Jenny
Encourager