After Suddenly Going Blind in One Eye, She Turned to Cycling to Feel Normal Again

Kathleen Probst’s life changed on September 19, 2021, though she doesn’t remember all the details. She knows she went to bed with a splitting headache at 5 p.m., determined to sleep off the discomfort. From there, it’s a blur: At 10 a.m. the next day, Probst’s friend came to her house to check on her after she hadn’t responded to his texts since the previous evening, which was unlike her. There, he found her lying on the floor next to her bed, unconscious. Probst, 50, couldn’t figure out what had happened—and initially, neither could her doctors. During her subsequent four-day hospital stay, doctors eventually concluded she’d suffered a retinal artery occlusion, which occurs when blood is blocked from flowing to the retina. Probst’s migraine was powerful enough to cause a stroke in her left eye, and the 17 hours she spent lying face down on the floor restricted the blood flow to that area, leading to permanent blindness in that eye—a case so rare, Probst’s ocular specialist had only seen it three times in 20 years. Yet despite receiving this life-altering diagnosis, Probst remained calm and focused on what she could control—namely, getting back on her beloved Giant bike. “I remember thinking that was the only thing that was going to make me feel normal because my world had changed,” she says. [View in Browser]( [Bicycling]( [SHOP]( [EXCLUSIVE]( [SUBSCRIBE]( [After Suddenly Going Blind in One Eye, She Turned to Cycling to Feel Normal Again]( [After Suddenly Going Blind in One Eye, She Turned to Cycling to Feel Normal Again]( Kathleen Probst’s life changed on September 19, 2021, though she doesn’t remember all the details. She knows she went to bed with a splitting headache at 5 p.m., determined to sleep off the discomfort. From there, it’s a blur: At 10 a.m. the next day, Probst’s friend came to her house to check on her after she hadn’t responded to his texts since the previous evening, which was unlike her. There, he found her lying on the floor next to her bed, unconscious. Probst, 50, couldn’t figure out what had happened—and initially, neither could her doctors. During her subsequent four-day hospital stay, doctors eventually concluded she’d suffered a retinal artery occlusion, which occurs when blood is blocked from flowing to the retina. Probst’s migraine was powerful enough to cause a stroke in her left eye, and the 17 hours she spent lying face down on the floor restricted the blood flow to that area, leading to permanent blindness in that eye—a case so rare, Probst’s ocular specialist had only seen it three times in 20 years. Yet despite receiving this life-altering diagnosis, Probst remained calm and focused on what she could control—namely, getting back on her beloved Giant bike. “I remember thinking that was the only thing that was going to make me feel normal because my world had changed,” she says. [Read More](   [The Leg Day Workout That’s Missing from Your Training Program]( [The Leg Day Workout That’s Missing from Your Training Program]( For speed, power, and injury prevention, grab those weights. [Read More](     [Another Brutal Day in the Mountains to Close Out the Tour de France Femmes]( [Another Brutal Day in the Mountains to Close Out the Tour de France Femmes]( A not-unexpected change in the GC makes for a fight for the yellow jersey on the final stage [Read More](   [Yes, You Can Still Get a Solid Workout on an E-Bike—Here’s How]( [Yes, You Can Still Get a Solid Workout on an E-Bike—Here’s How]( Follow this advice to train to your goals using pedal assist. [Read More](     [LeBron James Invests in Canyon Bikes]( [LeBron James Invests in Canyon Bikes]( The bike-loving NBA star is making another bet on the future of cycling [Read More](   [It's Time for the Mountains in the Tour de France Femmes on Stage 7]( [It's Time for the Mountains in the Tour de France Femmes on Stage 7]( The Tour de France Femmes hits its penultimate stage and it's also the first of two hard days in the mountains. [Read More](   [OPR Lift Every Voice]( Follow Us [Unsubscribe]( | [Privacy Notice/Notice at Collection]( Bicycling.com ©2022 Hearst Magazines, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Hearst Magazines, 300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019