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“ We as a family went through a few tough times and have experienced some serious lack of empathy and professionalism from people in this profession in New Zealand ,” he said . “ I never want other families to feel that way .
“ However , we were blessed to have had Trevor Dorahy as our first experience in this field and he actually was the one who got me to thinking that I could do this as a profession . Once I made the first eye that I felt Liberty would be able to wear I knew that this was for me and loved being able to do it .”
Dwayne taught himself how to make a prosthetic eye by watching YouTube videos of John Pacey Lowrie - one of the pioneers of the Polymethyl Methacrylate ( PMMA ) ( acrylic ). Earlier this year he was lucky enough to spend several weeks working with the man himself in the United Kingdom , and completed a five-day bespoke ocular prosthetic course at Nottingham Trent University .
“ It went amazingly well , I learned a lot and now feel confident in my ability to open up a practice in the Gold Coast , hopefully by the end of the year ,” he said , adding that there are only a handful of practicing ocularists around Australia .
As to Liberty , the bubbly fouryear-old is doing well - though Dwayne admits inserting her prosthetic eye can be a challenge .
“ The Scleral shell sits over the eye and Liberty doesn ’ t love having
it put in or taken out . She squeezes her eyes shut , which can make the process a little painful for her , but once she ’ s older and gains her confidence it doesn ’ t hurt at all to pop them in and out .”
“ She has partial vision in her left eye but she utilises it extremely well ,” he said . “ She wears very strong prescription glasses and she ’ s pretty good for a four-year-old at leaving them on . She has a lot of support
Above : Dwayne Collins with partner Ashleigh and children , Caius and Liberty .
from Vision Australia and there will be a lot more assistance once she starts school next year .”
Dwayne and Ashleigh , who also have a son , Caius , say Liberty is growing up quickly .
“ She ’ s such a smiley , empathetic child ,” Dwayne says . “ She loves other children but she is aware of her limitations . If she feels like she can ’ t do something she won ’ t do it , so I guess you can say that she is stubborn too . She loves music and dancing , the movie Frozen and kindy . Liberty also has Spastic Diplegia , Cerebral Palsy , which was only recently diagnosed , and she has taken all those challenges in her stride also .”
To support Dwayne and his family visit https :// www . gofundme . com / ocularist-training-andbusiness linkonline . com . au vision and hearing impairment
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