Loss of sight doesn't steal woman's joy

By Dianna L. Cagle

BR Editorial Assistant

For Lisa Shearin, walking by faith took on a new meaning when she woke from a coma with no sight.

"I feel like it's so important to understand that God is truly there in the valley of the shadow of death," she said. "He healed me in so many ways."

Shearin, who lives in Dunn, is a member of Coats Baptist Church in Coats. She and her husband, Lee, have been married 25 years. They have three children. Jeffrey, 23, works at a chemical company in the Research Triangle Park. Allison, 21, is a senior at Campbell University in Buies Creek; she is planning to be a health and physical education teacher. Amanda, 20, is a junior at North Carolina State in apparel marketing.

"I think a lot about learning to see people with my heart," Shearin said. "When you don't have the outer trappings to judge them by, you truly ... don't have preconceived notions.

"What matters is what's in their heart - for that lesson it's truly worth being blind."

Shearin works as a contractual teacher with North Carolina Services for the Blind (NCSB). She goes to Fayetteville on Tuesdays and is teaching at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Raleigh on Wednesdays.

The former schoolteacher is now teaching independent living skills and leading an advocacy meeting for a group of blind ladies.

"If you see someone else do it, you begin to understand that you can do that too," she said.

"I feel victorious in some ways in dealing with my blindness. I know that victory comes through the Lord and through His grace."

Shearin says there is "no medical explanation for why I'm alive. It's truly a miracle."

On Nov. 30, 2003, the Shearins went to church and then to lunch. To celebrate Lisa's birthday, which was Nov. 26, the family went to see the Austrian Lippanzer stallions show being held in Raleigh. Her stomach began to hurt.

Lisa had had surgery three weeks prior to the event. This was her first "big" outing since she had that surgery; doctors had made a second opening in her stomach in an effort to get her digestive system working properly.

As she was sitting in church that morning, with the children at home, Shearin says she was thinking, "Life can't get any better than this."

She discounted the pain because it was her first "real active day" since the surgery.

"Maybe it's part of the healing," she said. "By the time we got home, the pain was getting worse."

When she called the doctor, he asked if she could wait until office hours on Monday. At the time, she said maybe. But a few minutes later she had called her doctor back, and they made plans to meet at a Raleigh hospital.

The pain was so severe, Shearin had her husband stop at the area hospital to get something for the pain.

"I thought my ribs were going to come apart," she said. The local hospital put her on an ambulance and sent her to WakeMed.

Shearin had been an emergency medical technician at one point in her life, and when the crew said her pressure was 58/38, "I realized then I was going to die," she said. "Then he asked did I want to call my husband."

She talked to her husband, expressed her love for him and the children, and "I leaned back on the gurney and asked God to take me."

For Shearin, that was the last thing she remembers until 2004. While on the operating table for her ruptured stomach, Shearin went into a coma and did not come out until Jan. 1, 2004.

"When I woke up I could hear someone saying, 'Happy New Year,'" she said.

Of course, for Shearin, the last holiday she remembered was Thanksgiving.

"I thought I'd been in a car wreck because I was in so much pain," she said. "I kept asking my husband, 'Was it my fault?'"

It took a couple of days to figure out that she couldn't see because her memory was filling in the pictures of her loved ones when they were speaking to her.

For the next couple of weeks, Shearin was in and out of consciousness.

"The pain was so severe," she said. "The blindness is tough and it's difficult, but it doesn't compare to the physical pain."

Lack of oxygen to the brain caused her optic nerves to die. All of Shearin's doctors say she is fortunate because many people with her type of condition have traumatic brain injuries and are "basically vegetables," she said.

When indoors, Shearin usually doesn't wear sunglasses. Her eyes are OK. She can move them around. But she does use sunglasses outside to prevent damage.

"People just looking at me don't think that I'm blind," she said. "I can still make eye contact and (have the same) mannerisms (as a sighted person)."

On Feb. 17, 2004 - two and a half months after entering the hospital - Shearin went home to a whole new world.

"I did not feel ready to come home," she said.

She still had a feeding tube, along with drainage tubes. She was also using a walker.

Her family learned to change the bandages and the bags for all her fluids.

Her voice was still not back.

"I could only speak in a whisper," said Shearin, whose voice didn't return until March.

From February through June 2004, Amanda cared for her mother. She had turned down a modeling contract to stay.

She had graduated high school in December 2003, while her mother was in a coma.

The entire family had to adjust.

"They've all had to learn - and I've had to learn - everything has a place," Shearin said. "They had to sit back and let me make mistakes."

During that first year, Shearin says she broke her nose four times. One time she dislocated her shoulder.

"I can't explain how totally weak I was," she said. "It was just a lot of frustrations ... and a lot of patience."

From August 2004 until April 2005, Shearin moved to the North Carolina Rehabilitation Center for the Blind. She was there throughout the week and traveled home for the weekends. She learned Braille, how to use a cane, how to cook, cleaning techniques and exercises.

"I knew it was a mission field and that I needed to witness to these people," Shearin said. "I also realized I needed renewing each day."

Shearin still takes medicine to ensure that her stomach does "what it's supposed to do," and she sees a specialist for her chronic pain.

A plus side of her blindness is her view of people.

"It's funny the pictures I get of people," she said. "Everyone's always thin and pretty."

Shearin is learning day by day about God's commands for her life.

"Even though I don't feel at home in this body," she said, "I feel like God commands me to be happy, to have joy in the circumstances. I'm still awed that God chose to do the things that He's done in my life."

At least once a month - usually more - Shearin goes to a church to share her testimony.

"I really don't get nervous much anymore; it's amazing," she said.

Shearin writes poetry that she shares with groups as well, and is currently working on a book.

To contact Shearin about speaking opportunities, please contact (910) 897-4100 or e-mail lisashearin@earthlink.net.