Cornea transplant - 'It was fantastic being able to see again. It was magical'

Paul Rigg says that getting his sight back after a cornea transplant was like waking up after a long sleep.

"Sight is one of the things we take for granted. It's only when you lose it that you appreciate just how precious it is," says Paul, from Garstang in Lancashire.

He lost the sight in his right eye after he was involved in a road crash driving home from work. Paul received head, spine and stomach injuries and shards of windscreen glass pierced his right eye. Although there was no damage to his left eye, the sight in his right eye was lost because surgeons had to remove the lens.

"With only one eye you are not able to judge distances. Walking down the street I would bump into people because I could only see from one side," he says.

One of the biggest blows for Paul was no longer being able to play golf, and he was so upset he sold his clubs. But the possibility of a cornea transplant was raised and the operation was eventually carried out at the Royal Preston Hospital.

He had a stitch round his eye for a year, but when it was taken out he regained a degree of vision. "It was fantastic being able to see again. It really was magical," he says.

Paul does have some double vision and is unable to read print with his right eye, but efforts are being made to improve his sight with glasses and he's hoping to get back on the golf course soon.