Always ready with a smile and a kind word, our interviewee this month is quick to say, “Trust in God, and lean on your family when times get tough.” Stay tuned as we introduce to you, Nancy Bollman.
Q: How old were you when your family noticed there was a problem with your eyes?
A: I was about two years old. In Baltimore they found out I had Cataracts, glaucoma and optic nerve damage from too much oxygen at birth. The cataracts were in both eyes, so they removed them.
Q: Did you go to a public school?
A: I might have, but all I remember is the school for the blind. I started attending WVSB in 1980 when I was four. I graduated from there in 1996.
Q: What activities were you involved in as a child?
A: I was a Girl scout from Browny to Cadette. I remember at camp, we stayed in tents. Once, I remember getting stung and going to the hospital. Mom came and asked if I wanted to go home. I said, “No! I want to go back to camp!” :)
Q: I know Girl Scouts around here sell cookies. Did you? How so, if you were away at school?
A: Yes, I sold cookies. I took orders from folks on the school’s campus, from family and friends and even neighbors back home and even from people out in the town of Romney. I remember a neighbor of mine always saying, “Now, don’t forget my cookies.”
Q: Did you stay at the school all the time, or did you get to go home to see your family on the weekends?
A: I got to go home for visits on the weekends. I remember this one time, I was supposed to get on the Berkley Springs bus. Somehow, I got put on the Martinsburg bus. I got off the bus with my little suitcase in hand only to realize I was at a bakery. Someone carried me around till Mom got there. He actually took me inside for a doughnut while I waited. From then on, Mom came to get me on the weekends until she actually moved to Romney. Ever since then, my family has lived close.
Q: What about chorus? Were you involved in that?
A: Yes. One time Mom came to help out and saw me in the auditorium singing “Jesus Loves Me”. So, I joined chorus in seventh grade and Show choir in eight or ninth grade. I played cornet in band. In ninth or tenth grade, we were picked to go to Keyser WV for a regional band performance. Once, on a trip with the show choir, Pizzazz, the bus broke down. That was the time I got sick. LOL
Q: What other extra curricular activities were you involved in?
A: Radio, cheerleading and goalball. Both eleventh and twelfth grade years in goalball WV was number 1. As far as radio, I took it all through high school. The station was called, “WJGF” back then, and we played country music. I got to talk on the air and everything. Most of the time, there was another student in that class with me, so we worked together.
Q: So, did you like school?
A: I made good grades. The hardest class for me was math. However, I liked science and English.
Q: Did you receive Orientation and Mobility?
A: Yes, but mainly in high school. I remember once when I went to McDonalds. My instructor did not tell me how to get back. I had to figure that out by myself. I was on the way back, when I started to cross a parking lot that crosses a sidewalk. Someone driving nearly hit me, because they weren’t watching where they were going. My instructor almost had to grab me and pull me back. It scared me. “Are you all right?” my instructor asked. I said, “Yeah, just let me get my heart back out of my stomach.” LOL
Q: Are you a braille user?
A: Yes, but I didn’t learn it until I was fifteen. I used large print before then. I still use some large print today, but I need thick reading glasses. Other assistive devices I use include speech on my computer and phone, braille writer and braille slate and stylus, and a talking watch.
Q: So, we know you deal with health issues. Can you talk about that?
A: Yes. When I was seventeen, I went to the doctor for a physical so I could play goalball. There was something wrong with my kidneys. My blood pressure was running too high. My regular doctor didn’t see anything wrong, but I went for further testing and was sent to a kidney specialist. More tests and medicine and then I was sent down to Charlottesville, VA, because the specialist said the kidneys would only get worse. While on my senior trip to Virginia Beach, I got sick. I thought it was my kidneys, but it turned out to be the flu. I had to cut the trip short.
Q: Did things get better after graduation?
A: After graduation, I stayed home and rested. Then, in May of 1997, I got a kidney transplant. I was scared but so ready. I had it done at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. I was very weak. Walking was difficult at first after the surgery. But, the more I did it, the better I felt. I was in ICU for forty-eight hours. I was in the hospital for twelve days altogether. The staff was very nice, and I had a lot of support from family and friends. After a month or two, I began to feel more energetic than before the transplant. Finally, I was able to think about going to college. I had been too sick before to even consider it.
Q: You went to college?
A: Yes. I started college in 1997 and ended in 2001. I attended Potomac State in Keyser, WV. I majored in music education. I was close to home, but I opted to stay on campus. After college, I stayed home, trying to find a job. I was helping a friend care for his adopted children who were disabled, when he asked if I would like a job at Blind Industries and Services of Maryland. At first, I wasn’t interested, as it wasn’t in my field of study. Then, I decided to try it, because there were no other job prospects.
Q: Tell us about working at BISM.
A: I started in the sewing department. I liked it at first. It was difficult sometimes, trying to keep the material against the guide. At BISM, they put a guide on the sewing machine, so a blind person can feel which direction to feed the material into the machine. In the beginning, I sewed canvas bags. I worked there for nine years. I sewed the liners of jackets. Sometimes, I sewed fronts onto sleeves, and sometimes I sewed the sleeves onto the backs. By the time my health took a turn for the worse in June of 2013, I Was able to do whatever they asked me to.
Q: Your health again?
A: Yes. One of the reasons I had to quit was because of my asthma. I was getting blood work and planned to go back to work that day, but I collapsed before they could take my blood. I tried to eat but couldn’t. I went to the emergency room and found out my kidney, my new, transplanted kidney had stopped working completely. They put me on dialysis that day. I was on it for six months. I was off it for over a year. Then, they found me passed out in my bedroom; I had pneumonia. I was in the hospital, when my blood work showed that my kidney was not working well again. I went back on dialysis on July 21, 2015. I have been on it ever since. I go three days a week.
Q: So, what gets you through the dark days?
A: I rely on God. I also lean on my family, my church family and my friends. Then, too, I see others in the dialysis unit, many worse off than me. The folks at my church are good to listen and pray with me. Once, a few years ago, I ended up in a nursing home on an IV. A couple of folks from church came to visit, and it really lifted my spirits.
Q: What do you do to keep busy between visits to dialysis, now that you aren’t able to work?
A: I go to church, help out around the house by lending a hand with laundry, washing dishes, running errands, and I help take care of the pets, one a dog and the other a rabbit. I like to go shopping with friends, as well. It’s nice living in the city, because there are cabs and buses available. I’m glad that I don’t have to rely solely on the charity of friends and family to take me places.
Q: What advice would you give to someone who might be facing a similar situation?
A: I say, if you have a support system like family and friends and a church family, lean on them; they are important. Above all, lean on God. My favorite Bible verse is Philippians 4:13 which says, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
Nancy, thank you so much for allowing us to interview you. Your story inspires us to keep on keeping on. We encourage all of our faithful readers to remember Nancy in your prayers. She is eagerly looking forward to being able to get her name back on the transplant list for another kidney.
Thanks for reading, and we hope you have a blessed weekend.
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