Back in 2019, I was excitedly waiting to go on a trip to Thailand to celebrate my 40th Birthday.

A few weeks before we were due to leave, I started to feel like I was getting a migraine. This wasn't unusual for me, I was a regular migraine sufferer. So I took my migraine preventative medication and continued on as best as I could.

I went to work, I went out and celebrated a girlfriend's birthday with cocktails, karaoke and dancing.

By the time Sunday the 1st of September 2019 arrived I had to admit I needed help and I woke my husband with, “Happy Father's Day, can you please take me to the hospital?”

It was a good thing I got my husband to drive me because not long after being triaged and being told to settle in for a long wait, I went blind in my left eye in the hospital waiting room.

I thought I was imagining it at first, then I hoped I was. I sat there for a good 5 minutes, winking, trying to will the sight back. But nothing happened. It was like a grey curtain had come down over that eye.

Once I told a nurse things moved very quickly. It was abundantly obvious that I needed care at a bigger hospital so I was sent to the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, about 3 hours away from home. By 1pm that day, I was hooked up to my first steroid IV with a diagnosis of Optic Neuritis. I was already a long-time sufferer of SLE Lupus to begin with, everyone assumed that my bout of Optic Neuritis was showing how bad my Lupus was. They told me while I was in the hospital they were going to test me for a whole heap of rare, scary, diseases, but not to worry, I most likely wouldn't have any of them. Famous last words! Three months later at a follow-up appointment, they gave me the news - I'd tested positive for MOGAD, Myelin Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein Antibody Associated Disease. One neurologist described it to me as a turbocharged, crappier version of Multiple Sclerosis.

Whilst I got most of my sight back after that first initial attack, by March 2020 I’d had so many attacks on my left eye that I had become permanently and completely blind in it.

Along with losing the vision in my left eye, I also lost my depth perception. Most people who lose vision in one eye learn to adjust fairly easily but for some reason my brain just won't adjust. Because of this, I know need a cane to be able to navigate independently as the ground looks like an optical illusion!

I've also been left with permanent nerve pain behind that left eye, it's like the worst migraine of my life, but it will never go away.

All that nerve pain, plus medication side effects, made it terribly hard to sleep. Scrolling through Facebook during the night I came across paint-pouring videos. These clever artists were making incredible works of art by pouring paints. I found them incredibly soothing and relaxing. One day I asked myself why I was only watching?

So I went off and brought some supplies and boy, didn't I get some funny looks. But once I poured my first painting - I was hooked. And then I discovered I could pour on vases and make functional art!

Not long afterwards Pieces by Polly for MOGAD was born. I'm not an official representative for MS Australia but I donate 10% of sales to them. Whilst I don't have MS, MOGAD is one of their neurological conditions they cover and they've been an amazing support for me. It's nice to be able to give something back