Melaine was in her early 20s when she began 'tripping over things'

Melaine was in her early 20s when she began noticing something was wrong with her vision.

The Melbourne woman was working as a veterinary nurse at the time.

"I started not to be able to see well in the dark, trip over things," she tells 9honey.

"When you work as a veterinary nurse, you're on your feet, darting around all the time, and I was working in a large animal welfare shelter, so it was a really busy, full-on role.

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"I found that I was stumbling into things, tripping over things."

Melaine had already been suffering from hearing loss since the age of five.

Nobody put the two together until Melaine's brother Matthew, who was also experiencing hearing and vision loss, was diagnosed with Usher's Syndrome.

Melaine and her sister were then tested.

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They too had the syndrome, caused by a recessive gene carried by both their parents.

"There's so many variations, even between the three of us ... in how it's progressing," Melaine, 53, explains.

"My sister, she's five years younger than me, and her vision loss is pretty much identical to mine.

"She's pretty much five years behind me in her trajectory, whereas my brother, his vision seems to be more stable. It doesn't seem to be progressing as fast as mine. So it's actually really interesting."

While Melaine and her sister have been using canes for several years, their brother does not.

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"Initially it was just night blindness and, like, tunnel vision, and it was just gradually getting worse and worse," she says.

"But now I'm in the later stages of the disease. My central vision was still fairly functional, so I would be able to read a book with magnification ... look at things up close, look at photos, things like that I could still manage.

"But now I can't really see much, just basically shapes, shapes are like light and shade now."

In addition to her cane, Melanie has also brought a guide dog into her life, Dessi, via Guide Dogs Victoria. She describes this as a "lifestyle choice."

"You have to be able to demonstrate that you will be able to build a trusting bond with the dog because, think about it, you're putting your life in this dog's paws, and vice versa. The dog has to be able to trust you as well."

Melaine used to enjoy going out at night to see live bands and during that time in her life, she says her lifestyle wouldn't have suited a guide dog.

"They don't like to be on their own, anyway," she explains. While Dessi is a working dog when they leave Melaine's home, she is a typical dog at home.

"The second I take her harness off, she's a totally normal dog."

Melaine and Dessi live with her husband Richard and mother-in-law and an indoor cat named Bella who is in her later years.

Melaine has replaced her days watching live music with travel.

"I always fly with Virgin because I have found them to be just absolutely fantastic in terms of what they do," she says of their accommodations for her and Dessi.

When it comes to how members of the public interact with Dessi, Melaine isn't annoyed by those who attempt to pat her while she is working, although she says it's a major faux pas.

It's people who allow their dogs to run up to Dessi that bug her the most.

"A lot of people will say don't pet the dog, and that is definitely a thing, but for me, the biggest thing is keep your pet dog away," she says.

"Give us space. This is a working dog. Give the dog its space.

'It's working, it's doing an important job."

There can be a bit of a wait for a guide dog, but that is mostly due to the organisation's focus on ensuring the best fit.

"It's not a matter of who's been on the list the longest, it's actually a matter of waiting for the right match," she says.

"So every person has a natural walking speed as does every dog. A fast-walking person with a slow-walking dog is just not going to work," she explains.

Dessi is "very slightly anxious with her veterinary examinations", which makes her a good fit for Melaine as she used to work as a veterinary nurse and can help her through the process.

"That was a perfect match," she says.

"So that was a really good example of Guide Dog Victoria really going above and beyond in making sure they had the right match."

Find out more about the work of Guide Dogs Victoria by visiting the website.

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