Last night I had one of the most terrifying experiences I can recently recall. I've been working hard this week, some late nights but more importantly churning through things at a furious pace and with unrelenting energy. As I settled into bed last night I switched on BBC iPlayer to watch a show I'd missed before going to sleep. As I did I noticed some small sparkling lights in the middle of the screen - 'how annoying' I thought, '...the screen has cracked'. As I checked the screen I realised it wasn't the Macbook that was faulty, but my own eyes; I'd arrogantly assumed in my invincible youth that I couldn't be at fault.

Having spent twenty minutes carrying out a purely customary investigation (splashing water into my eyes, covering each eye and refocusing, blinking furiously, etc.) I diagnosed that it wasn't anything in my eye. This gradually became more worrying as my vision got worse, I couldn't focus and the small sparkling lights spread into a giant blind spot. I couldn't see anything other than blurred images. I tried to focus and couldn't. All I could see was shapes and light. I was blind.

It wasn't a pitch black blindness, but a total inability to see anything in detail - only a change in light tone which gave me some indication of where my laptop was but wasn't much help in a dark room at 11pm. I began to panic.

What I was most fearful about was waking up in the morning and my sight having gone completely - I recalled stories of people waking one day unable to see, and that was it for the rest of their lives. I kept opening my eyes in the hope it had cleared but it hadn't - if anything it had worsened - I lay there cursing. I felt so unbelievably powerless to do anything, and so just closed my eyes and tried to sleep.

I woke this morning with a start, immediately testing my eyes and attempting to read an old newspaper on my floor. My mind was obviously accelerating much faster than my body, as it took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust and emerge from their slumber, but as they did and as the words began to form and make sense a wave of relief crashed over me. Over today I felt pathetic for such a panic, but I did realise how important little things are in making your life what it is.

I'm not going to turn this into a soppy 'I thank god for everything I have' post, but I do feel a certain need to refocus (no pun intended) on looking after myself. I've started this year with a bang, having committed to run the Great North Run for Alzheimer's Society and intend to be in the best health I can be in a year's time. I've pledged to myself not to waste my youth and I think last night was a reminder how easily things can be taken away from you. I have since been told it was most likely a migraine without the headache, something I'd never experienced before. This does give me some limited comfort, as I'm not sure I could handle my life without my sight.