'I didn't know if I would ever see again' Nicola Thomas suffers from a rare medical condition that left her blind at the age of 22, not knowing if she would ever see again. She spoke to Claire Rees about how the experience made her determined to live life to o the full.

TO look at Thomas, you w be able to tell w going on behin eyes. Nicola wouldn't what is nd her Yet the 23-year-old suffer condition that means her o mune system is actually fig destroy her sight. rs with a own imghting to Two years ago, Nico Churchill Park, Caerphil watching television when s ised she wasn't seeing th clearly as usual. ola, of lly, was she realhings as "Iwould bewatchingTV, ing, and things would star foggy," she said. or readrt to get eye had "eye spespitalof "The vision in my left e become extremely patchy," Nicola was referred to e cialistsat theUniversityHo Wales in Cardiff and told h dition appeared to be a optic neuritis, which shoul up after a course of anti matories.

her concase of ld clear i-inflamperfect After a few months of vision however, it began to dramatically. o worsen around TV was before," ative asnt come."

"I was having headaches my eyes and watching T really blurry, worse than b said Nicola, an administra sistant. "Then things wen pletely black in my left eye Nicola was admitted to h for two weeks and given ste medics ran tests to attempt out what could be the caus "While I was there, thi darker and darker," she sai "Itwasn't a case ofmewa one day and being blind, I w seeing less and less until on couldn't see a thing.

hospital eroids as t to find se.

ings got id.

aking up was just ne day I "I was completely blind." Nicola was sent home fro pital, with doctors still un offer any diagnosis or as she would ever regain her s "It was really scary," said "om hosnable to ssurance sight. d Nicola.

"Getting home was the worst bit - I remember it was a really boiling day and I could feel the sun but I couldn't see it.

"I didn't know if I would again." Signed off from her job at a financial service company in Cardiff, she spent her days in darkness.

Nicola's mum Carol, 45, was allowed a short time of compassionate leave and would return home to make her lunch, after laying out her clothes every day and running her a bath, but the rest of the day left her alone pondering her fate.

"I felt trapped really," she said.

"I spent all my time just lying on my bed, listening to RnB on my iPod."

Her only outings were to Asda with her mum, as supportive friends gathered in her bedroom with takeaways to fill her in on the week's gossip.

"I was used to going out every weekend and dancing with the girls," she said. "My friends were great - they'd bring me grapes and food from Nando's!

"But I love to cook and I had to rely on everyone doing it for me.

"I'm usually so independent but I was losing my confidence."

With the help of her family, friends and social services, Nicola said she kept her spirits high and focused on becoming as self-sufficient as she could be in the situation.

Thanks to adapted kitchen equipment she was able to make herself a cup of tea, and use the microwave, feeling her way around the house for stickers which were used to help her navigate.

"At times I felt useless and I cried out of frustration," said Nicola, who studied fashion at college.

"I'm a very visual, and creative person and I really missed drawing and making bags and greetings cards.

"I was also really tired because having no sight takes up a lot of your energy so I was sleeping for most of the day. And I was terrified to go outside in case I got hit by a car."

Then one day, after a month unable to see, Nicola had a breakthrough.

"I was in the house daydreaming, Mum was watching Big Brother, and I was facing away from the TV as usual, and she asked me to look at something on the screen," she said.

"Amazingly, I could see colours and I could make out movements.

"Then day by day it just got better until I could read the message on a big Get Well balloon my auntie had bought me."

Last November, Nicola was diagnosed with Devic's disease, by which time she had regained her sight.

Devic's disease is an auto-immune, inflammatory disorder where a person's own immune system attacks the optic nerves, producing an inflammation of the optic nerve and the spinal cord, causing temporary blindness, which can occasionally be permanent, in one or both eyes.

Spinal cord lesions can also lead to weakness or paralysis in the legs or arms.

"There's hardly any research around on the disease," said Nicola. "I was glad to know at least they knew what it was, but I had no idea how it would affect me.

"I still don't know if my sight will go again and if it'll be permanent next time."

But Nicola wasted no time in returning to work and, just weeks after regaining her sight, was planning how to make up for the time she had lost.

"I regretted not having done things I'd always planned to," she said. "I've always wanted to go to Paris, and as soon as I was well, my boyfriend Barrie booked us a trip there.

"We spent four days wandering around, seeing everything, going up the Eiffel Tower and visiting the Palace of Versailles. It was amazing - I was seeing things I'd been worried about missing."

With one ambition fulfilled, Nicola set about working on achieving another one - competing in Miss Wales.

Tonight she's one of 22 in the Miss Caerphilly final, which takes place at Blackwood Miners Institute, and if she's crowned a winner or makes first or second runner-up, it will mean a guaranteed place at the Miss Wales final next year.

"Going for Miss Caerphilly was me making the most of things," she said. "I've always thought about going for Miss Wales but had put it off and put it off.

"I'll be too old next year so it's my last chance!" Nicola is now taking mycophenolate, a drug which stops the antibodies in her blood attacking the nerves in her eyes. She visits a neurologist every six months, and has blood tests every month to monitor the effects of the medication. "They still don't know what will happen to my sight," she said.

"And I still don't know what the future's going to be.

"When you're young, you think you have all the time in the world to do things, but you don't know what's around the corner. I'm determined to make the most of everything now."

Entry is still open for the regional heats ahead of next year's Miss Wales contest. The deadline for applications to Miss Rhondda Cynon Taf is Monday - go to www.misswales.co.uk