WHEN she was 30-weeks pregnant, Georgia and her husband Mick Taylor were told their daughter had a small ventricular septal defect, something the doctors called "quite common".
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But little did they know, Winter would be born with a bilateral congenital cataract in her left eye, discovered after a routine heart check-up.
"The hospital arranged for a doctor come to have a listen to her heart at two-days-old while we were still in hospital, he was the one who was not happy with her left eye's red light reflex," Mrs Taylor said.
"After a few more assessments she was diagnosed by pediatric ophthalmologist Dr James Elder as having a congenital cataract at nine-days-old.
"When we were first told we thought it was simple as having it removed - my grandma had cataract removal surgery and had great vision afterwards - I thought surely it is the same thing."
But after extensive research, the family knew this journey wasn't going to be easy for little Winter.
"It took a lot of researching to grasp what the doctors were saying, that it wasn't as easy as just removing the cataract which was blocking her vision, but actually training her eye to see because it was under developed," Mrs Taylor said.
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"It is quite a rare condition, and unfortunately Winter's cataract was quite dense so blocking almost all vision from that eye.
"The overall decision was to operate before 12-weeks-old and go down a lengthy road of corrective surgeries and therapies, or leave it and potentially have no way of gaining vision in that eye after 12 weeks old.
"A stressful and upsetting decision to make but we believe we choose the right path for us."
Now two-years-old, Mrs Taylor said Winter has faced a few challenges throughout her young life.
But just thinking about the long term gains keeps you going when things get difficult.
- Georgia Taylor
"Winter wears a hard contact lens since her cataract removal surgery at three-months-old, so learning how to put those in and take out has been really difficult and we have our moments with that," she said.
"Winter also wears a patch on her good eye to train her to use the weaker eye.
"This is a long road, approximately 8-10 years of patching, which started out as half of her awake time each day and now we are down to four hours a day.
"This also can be a hard task but the reward long term will be worthwhile we are sure."
Along the way, Winter and her family have been supported by Vision Australia through her whole journey towards a normal life as a toddler.
"The support we have received from Vision Australia has been second to none," Mrs Taylor said.
"For myself I found the whole world of Early intervention and NDIS applications confusing and confronting.
"Vision Australia guided me through the process and assisted in helping me select a team to help Winter in the areas we felt she was developmentally delayed."
Mrs Taylor said their support has allowed Winter to reach some important milestones in her road to recovery.
"Our biggest milestone to date would be her last ophthalmologist check up with the Royal Children's Hospital," she said.
"They had one of the best readings of her vision yet and believe that the patching is working and her vision in her weaker eye is catching up.
"It was great to hear that the day to day struggles of patching it worth while and actually working."
Winter has been named an ambassador for Vision Australia's Carols by Candlelight, an event chief executive Ron Hooton said he is keen to bring back.
"We are truly thrilled to welcome back the thousands of people who make the annual pilgrimage to the Sidney Myer Music Bowl on Christmas eve," he said.
"Coming together as a family is what this event is all about. With the pandemic causing so much disruption to the lives of so many Melbournians, it's time to get together to not only celebrate this truly magnificent event, but also help raise valuable funds to children and families who are blind or have low vision."
Mrs Taylor said she was excited for her daughter to be a part of an event like this.
"I really hope that it will be something that she will be able to look back on and feel proud once she is a bit older," she said.
To find out more about this year's event, go to carols.visionaustralia.org
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