Chance meeting saves sight

Staff at Carolyn Parker Optometrists in Penkridge, Staffordshire, may have saved a women’s sight after a chance encounter.

Jo Stokes bumped into assistant manager Jim Michie on the street and complained of ‘seeing ants’ across her vision. Michie immediately suggested she come into the practice, which is part of the Hakim Group, for tests.

Optometrist Katie Devey suspected a detached retina and referred her to Wolverhampton’s New Cross Hospital where she underwent an operation.

The mother-of-two was due to go on holiday just a few days after the chance meeting and surgeons told her that, if left untreated, the cabin pressure on the flight could have caused blindness in that eye.