Amber Wilson was only 21 years old when she first noticed a change in her vision. She was at the Tropfest short film festival in Sydney in 2004, and realised she couldn't focus on the screen unless she put one hand over her left eye.

"I wasn't that worried about it, but I thought it was a bit weird," she says. Amber saw an optometrist the next day, and was told to go to the emergency department at the Sydney Eye Hospital.  After initial treatment, Amber's vision was restored to normal, except for a slight blind spot in her left eye. "I didn't need glasses, and just had to have regular eye checks."

A few years later, in September 2008, Amber noticed some more distortion in the vision in her left eye. "I noticed it really early this time, because I was aware of what to look for," she says. "It turned out to be a recurrence of the same problem I had in 2004."

Fortunately for Amber, there had been advances in treatment in the four years since her initial diagnosis. "I'm incredibly grateful for all the eye research that has been done, because the treatment options improved so much in the four years between my first episode and the second one. I experienced the direct benefit from that research, and I'm certainly keen for as much research to be done as possible," she says.