Main content

My husband is now deaf and blind - here's how it's changed our marriage

How does a relationship change if you have to become a carer for your spouse?

Lina Mookerjee had been married to her husband, Richard, for more than 15 years when he lost both his sight and hearing. Richard has retinitis pigmentosa, and was 38 when he found out he would one day go blind.

By the time they met more than a decade later, he had already lost some of his sight and around six years ago, he went fully blind. However, neither of them were prepared for him to lose his hearing at the same time.

Lina is now as much a carer as she is a wife. She does everything functional for Richard – including cooking, ironing, driving, phoning the bank and the GP, and constantly narrating every scene to him. Lina and Richard joined Krupa Padhy on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4's Woman's Hour to share their story and discuss what they describe as the ‘invisible’ work of carers.

You can listen to the full interview on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Sounds - it's the Woman's Hour episode from 6 December.

Release date:

Duration:

2 minutes