I met her through my Ophthalmologist who referred me to her to try out hard contact lenses since my vision was very bad. To be honest, when I first met her I didn’t think she would be as welcoming as she was, especially because she looked very young, and if you have a chronic eye condition like myself you expect to be assisted by someone who looks more experienced and ‘older’. Little did I know that she would actually be my ‘fairy godmother’.

My goal for consulting with Tasmiyah was to be able to see well enough to obtain a driver’s licence. I must say it was a long and exhausting journey but she came through for me through numerous consultations but she was always dedicated to help me. I remember one Saturday where she came to work just to meet up with me because she knew that home was a 3 hour drive away from Tongaat (where she was working). I can even recall how excited she was when I was able to read all the different sizes of letters from the torturing letter board.

As anyone would imagine, the thought of having a hard plastic being fitted on my eye was extremely daunting and I simply dreaded going through the process! However, all of those dreaded thoughts vanished after my initial consult with her.

She explained to me in detail the purpose of the hard lens and the benefits associated with having the lens. The entire process of testing, fitting and getting my final lens took approximately four weeks, during which time Tasmiyah kept me updated regularly. During this time, I was given a trial lens to adjust to and I was taken aback when I received a message from Tasmiyah a day after, enquiring how I was adjusting etc.

This was the first time that I was ever contacted by any health care professional to enquire on my progress and I was truly amazed that she had taken the time out to do so, something which she still continues to do even after my final fitting.