Rallying to raise awareness of malignant glaucoma
Team 224
Two and a half years ago, Sandrine, of Team 224 (Karine ESPERANDIEU / Sandrine JOUANNET - RÉCUPÉRATION ALÉSIENNE FERS ET MÉTAUX) discovered that she has a genetic disease: malignant glaucoma. She decided to take part in this 28th edition of the Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles to raise awareness of the disease, which is a deterioration of the optic nerve. She asked her friend Karina to compete with her and represent France Glaucome – La vue pour la vie, an association of which she is a member. They both belong to a motorbike club. Karina had already driven a buggy and a motorbike in the Merzouga dunes, but not a 4×4. “When she asked me to do it with her, I told her, you’re crazy, you don’t know what you’re in for! When I have a challenge before me, I invest in it 100%.” Sandrine had never been to Morocco and had never done a rally. “We also did this rally for the humanitarian side, the sharing and solidarity.”
“It is a terrible and irreversible disease.” Her interocular pressure is very high: 55 rather than the average pressure of 10 and 12. Too much pressure can cause the optic nerve to rupture, leading to blindness. “I will take medication all my life to control the pressure. I have had eleven surgeries at specialized centres and at Hôpital des Quinze-Vingts in Paris. It’s very hard psychologically. I could lose my vision from one day to the next.” The disease is little known, although it is becoming increasingly common. “The sooner it is diagnosed, the better the treatment. It’s a disease that you can’t see coming, it has few symptoms.”
Sandrine chose to navigate, a role that requires visual concentration. Looking at maps and distant landscapes all day long tired her eyes, which was made worse by the fact that one of her eyes is myopic and the other is hypermetropic. She has to pace herself, and her brain works twice as hard. The Sankas, as they call themselves, proudly took part in the Cœur de Gazelles donations drive by collecting glasses and distributing pamphlets about glaucoma.
