{"id":267574,"date":"2025-09-25T09:20:30","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T07:20:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/?p=267574"},"modified":"2025-09-25T09:20:33","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T07:20:33","slug":"readers-letter-local-optometrist-saved-my-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/readers-letter-local-optometrist-saved-my-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Reader&#8217;s letter: &#8216;Local optometrist saved my life&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<p>If there&#8217;s one sense I treasure most it&#8217;s my eyesight. \r<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, when I began struggling to read with my right eye, I set out in search of new prescription glasses. What I found instead, 50 km from home at Vision In Focus in Stellenbosch, was the optometrist who literally saved my life.\r<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Leigh Fourie is not only thorough, but compassionate, patient and remarkably skilled. While testing my eyes she detected both a detached retina and a choroidal melanoma, an eye cancer that often spreads to the liver and lungs. \r<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thanks to her swift action and referral, I was sitting with one of the continent&#8217;s top ocular oncologists within a week and received radiation therapy in time to preserve my health and future.\r<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What struck me most was not only Leigh&#8217;s clinical expertise, but her humanity. Daily WhatsApp check-ins, clear explanations of complex medical terms and an unwavering commitment to my well-being; she truly went above and beyond.\r<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eye cancer is often silent, and my records showed the tumour had been developing for more than two years without detection and was missed by my previous optometrist. Leigh&#8217;s keen eye and her high-tech machines quite literally saved my life.\r<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you notice changes in your vision, floaters or anything unusual, don&#8217;t delay; book an eye test today. And if you want to be in the very best hands, you&#8217;ll find a brilliant team at Vision In Focus, Stellenbosch. Shani, Ray, Pauline, Nicole and Adriana are wonderful people.\r<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Leigh Fourie is my hero and a credit to your Matie town and her profession!\r<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>JC de Gouveia-Meyer,\r<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>E-MAIL<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;If there&#8217;s one sense I treasure most it&#8217;s my 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de Gouveia-Meyer (right) with Leigh Fourie of Vision In Focus in Dorp Street, Stellenbosch.","article_media_icon":"1","article_template":"news","author_byline":"","background_color":"","block_editor":"1","byline":"","cmplz_hide_cookiebanner":"","competition_end_date":"","contact_advertise_email":"","contact_advertise_phone":"","contact_editorial_email":"","contact_general_email":"","contact_general_phone":"","contact_office_hours":"","contact_physical_address":"","enabled":"","featured_image_custom_caption":"","featured_video_url":"","fields":"","font_body":"","font_header":"","frequency":"","headline":"'Local optometrist saved my 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