To mark Deafblind Awareness Week, Health Editor Barry Nelson meets mother-of-two Helen Lessels, one of 250,000 deafblind people in the UK.

AS a graduate, career woman, wife and mother of two young girls, Helen Lessels has already achieved a great deal in her first 42 years. But what will surprise many people is that Helen, who lives in a small village near Durham City, is both deaf and blind.

Profoundly deaf from birth, she learned to lip read, wore powerful hearing aids and, despite her handicap, did well at her Durham City school.

Helen was already thinking about going to university one day when she suffered another huge set-back – at the age of 14 she became totally blind in her right eye due to a detached retina.

Again, in spite of this additional handicap – and greatly helped by her doting parents Ethel and Ian – Helen excelled at her school work and won a place at Durham University. Graduating in maths and computing, she went on to get a good job with Durham County Council as a computer programmer.

And 12 years ago, after meeting at the Durham city church they both attended, Helen married her boyfriend James.

Five years later, the couple’s first daughter, Rebecca, was born, followed by their second daughter, Anna. But when Rebecca was three years old and Anna was only a year old, disaster struck again when Helen lost most of the sight in her remaining good left eye after the retina became detached.

This latest affliction left Helen with very little sight, which made looking after two small children even more of a challenge.

“I thought that I had to have sight to look after the children. That was all I wanted, to look after them myself, they were my biggest worry,” recalls Helen.

BUT with the help of her family and friends and with support from Durham Social Services, Helen got used to her new situation and coped remarkably well.

“It is four years now since I lost most of my remaining sight. When you look back, you think how did we manage? I supposed you just have to get on with it,” says Helen, who is able to hold a conversation as long as the other person sits close by and speaks in a clear voice.

“Something like this can either tear you apart as a family or bring you closer together. In our case, it brought us closer together,” she adds.

“The children were my biggest worry, but they are my biggest comfort as well.”

Helen aimed to keep family life running as ‘normally’ as possible and she has stuck to her guns with great determination.

At first, she had carers coming in five days a week. “At the beginning, I couldn’t do much. It was a shock.”

But she gradually adapted to her new circumstances. “Now I just have carers for about three hours a day, to help me collect the children and bring them home.”

In solidarity with his now almost totally blind wife, Helen’s husband decided to give up watching television and help her out in the kitchen.

“He said he felt guilty about watching television and suggested we should start cooking together.”

This turned out to be a great idea and now Helen says they have “quite a repertoire” of meals between them. “I’ve got to the point where I don’t use recipes any more. I tend to make things up as I go along,” she laughs.

But how on earth does she put her hand on all the ingredients?

“I have always been very organised, but now I get quite paranoid about things being put back in the right place. Anyone who comes here and moves anything has to put it back. Sometimes James forgets, I had to ring him at work the other day and find out where he had put the cloths prop.”

While she is pretty home-based, Helen is able to get out and about under her own steam, thanks to her canine assistant. Unite is a perky, sweet-natured four-year-old labrador who has been specially trained to work with deaf and blind people.

Known as a dual-purpose support dog, Unite has been trained to act as a normal guide dog for the blind when Helen is walking to and from the shops or hopping on and off a bus. “Guide dogs walk in straight lines until they get to a curb, then they sit down. That’s when I have to make the decision to go right or left,” she says.

Helen relies on a map in her head which means she can find most of the places she needs to get too fairly easily.

In the home Unite has a different role. “She has been trained to nudge me with her nose when she hears certain sounds, when the door rings, the phone rings or the kitchen timer goes off, she will nudge me and lead me to the source of the sound.”

IF the smoke alarm goes off, Unite will find her mistress and then lie down. “She’s a lovely dog. She is supposed not to jump up but sometimes she can’t help it because she is so excited.”

When Helen is out walking she wears a red and white chequered sash while Unite sports a matching red and white harness. She used to carry a long red and white stick but finds it easier to keep her hands free.

Helen is a bit disappointed that more people don’t realise that the red and white chequerboard means she is blind and deaf.

“I wish people wouldn’t assume that you are just blind. People need to be more deafblind aware. People are quite wary about coming closer to me, but that is exactly what they need to do. To get through to me you need to get my attention, stand fairly close to me and then speak clearly.”

More than anything else, Helen tries to forget her dual disability and just gets on with running a happy home.

“I have a fantastic family and great friends who have stuck by me,” says Helen. “The children were a big help. They are really good kids.”

■ For more information contact the deafblind charity Sense by visiting sense.org.uk or ring 0845-1270060

BECAUSE he knows North-East football fans have very little to smile about at the moment, dentist Dr Peter Farrage, of Enhance Dental Care, is offering them ten per cent off whitening and smile makeovers until the new season kicks off in mid-August. Because his practice is in Yarm High Street, equal distance from Darlington and Middlesbrough, Peter says he feels sympathy for all disheartened fans in the region. “I hope this offer will get them smiling again,” he adds.

■ Enhance Dental Care, 117 High Street, Yarm TS15 9BB. Tel: 07930- 761151; enhancedentalcare.co.uk