How Masitah found a new way forward after losing her sight

(Bernama pic)JOHOR BAHRU: Before the accident, Masitah Afandy measured her life in working days. “Out of 365 days in a year, I probably spent 360 days in the office,” the 35-year-old entrepreneur told Bernama.As the chief executive officer of an air-conditioning business, Masitah had become a familiar name among entrepreneurs in Johor. Then, on March 21, 2023, everything changed.Masitah and three employees were returning from a programme in Sabak Bernam, Selangor, when their car crashed into the back of a lorry on the North-South Expressway near Ayer Keroh, Melaka.Masitah, who had been seated in the front passenger seat, suffered severe injuries to the right side of her body, including her face and leg.

One of her employees later died from his injuries.“I was conscious the whole time and didn’t feel any pain except in my leg, even though my skull was fractured,” she recalled.She underwent several operations, with surgeons inserting nine metal plates into her face and a metal implant into her right thigh. Amidst the confusion, Masitah realised she could no longer see.“I could hear everything, but I couldn’t see anything,” she said. Her husband later told her doctors believed her eyesight was deteriorating and that she might become blind.“My response was, ‘Oh, OK’,” she said - her calm reaction surprising those around her.Masitah spent 24 days in hospital.

Her greatest challenge began only after she returned home, when she had to adjust to life without sight while recovering in a wheelchair.“I had to adapt to my new world,” she said. “At first, I constantly felt dizzy, almost like seasickness. It felt as though I was floating and I couldn’t tell where the floor was.”Masitah had to rebuild her independence after the accident, a journey that required faith and patience as she learnt everyday routines all over again.

(Bernama pic)When someone moved her wheelchair, she could not even tell whether she was being pushed forwards or pulled backwards. She relied on the wheelchair for eight months while her fractured thigh healed.Bathing, dressing and applying make-up - routines she had once performed without thought - all had to be learnt again from the beginning. But over time, Masitah began to regain her ind…