Pioneering stem-cell surgery has restored one mother’s sight

When her youngest child was conceived, Deborah Catlyn was blind. Four months into her pregnancy, she had pioneering surgery that would eventually lead to her regaining her sight.

The procedure was completed 18 months later – enabling Deborah to see for the first time the daughter she had named Miracle.

Deborah, blinded when a woman threw acid in her face at a nightclub in 2002, is one of about 20 patients who have benefited from ground-breaking stem-cell transplantation surgery, performed by Sheraz Daya and his team at the Centre for Sight at Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead in West Sussex