When Sean Stanley lost his sight, READING and a great family made all the difference

Despite being blinded more than 30 years ago by an armed robber, Sean Stanley considers himself lucky. Without that gunshot he would never have met his wife.

In December 1986, 22-year-old Sean was working in his off-licence, which he had bought only a year earlier, when an armed robber came in and shot him in the head. The bullet travelled through his cheek and into his neck, severing an artery.

He stumbled out of the shop and passed out in the street, where luckily a nurse on her way home from work found him, caring for him until the paramedics arrived. Sean, now 53, doesn’t remember any of this.

Everything he knows has been told to him by third parties. The first he was aware of this life-shattering event was almost four months later in March 1987 after he woke from a drug-induced coma.

“It was very confusing waking up in hospital with no idea how I got there,” he says. “I don’t remember anything about what happened, which might be a lucky thing really. I was very angry for a long time. Very, very angry. 

“They explained that I would never see again and I couldn’t believe it. I was shocked. I had a weep a few times about it, it is a big thing to go through.

“I was a typical 22-year-old. I used to go out, drink, have a laugh with my mates. Then life changed completely. It was a really scary time. A dark time.”

The attack left him both completely blind and wheelchair-bound. He has brain damage and is paralysed on the left side of his body, meaning he cannot walk or use his arm.

Sean couldn’t continue running his business so he and his partner were forced to sell up. Months of rehabilitation followed, hard work to try to restore his life to what it had been before but helping him cope was Shirley, a nurse he met during his time in rehab. A

And, appropriately for a book lover, he describes their romance as something straight out of a Mills & Boon novel. 

“It isn’t really allowed for a nurse and patient to get together. I was very pally with her but we waited until after I had been transferred away from her before we did anything. It was like something from Mills & Boon.

“I now have my lovely wife, who is just wonderful. If I hadn’t been shot we would never have met and I wouldn’t have the life I have now. The fact is I don’t know what life I would have now or who I would be.”

Sean lives with his family in a lovely bungalow in Surrey. His three children Siobhan, Seth and Molly are all in their 20s and forging their own paths, with his son pursuing a creative writing course.

He does admit that one thing he wishes he could see is his wife and children’s faces. “I can’t say I miss seeing them because I never saw them before. You can’t miss what you never had. But I do wish I knew what they looked like.

“I will never know what Shirley or the kids look like, which is a bit sad really. But there is no point in dwelling.” 

Sean’s other great love was reading and after the attack he feared he would never enjoy a book again: “I would always have a paperback in my hand, even in the off-licence. I never stopped. I realised that I would never be able to do that again and I missed it.”

Thankfully it wasn’t long before he was able to rekindle his love for fiction. Shortly after he woke up his brother told him about Talking Books, a service run by the Royal National Institute of Blind People, that allows those without sight to enjoy good fiction.

His family had known how important it would be for him to be able to continue with his favourite pastime. “Talking Books is just something that I do all of the time,” he says. “Just before this interview I was listening to one. I have it beside me now. I get up in the morning and come through to the lounge and if I’m not listening to the radio or chatting to someone then that is what I do all day.

“I was an avid reader before I got shot so one of the things I was scared of missing out on was reading books, of being able to read the books I loved and finding new ones too. 

“When they told me about Talking Books it cheered me up no end. I’ve been listening to them for the past 33 years and they have made a huge difference.”

Sean’s favourite author is Stephen King and he reckons he is pretty close to having read every one of the horror writer’s 54 novels. Through the RNIB’s Talking Books he is also constantly discovering new writers and new stories to enjoy, some of which last for 84 hours.

For more than 80 years the Talking Books service has helped create a lifeline to the outside world for blind and partially sighted people, providing more than one million audio books every year. More than two million people in the UK are living with sight loss that has a significant impact on their daily life and the talking book service is completely free of charge to everyone who is registered as either blind or partially sighted.

It is predicted that by 2050 the number of people with sight loss in the UK will double to more than four million, making services such as these even more important. “The RNIB is indispensable to me. I would not have the lovely life I have now if it weren’t for them. I would just be bored stiff sitting here all day with nothing to do.

“Talking Books have made my life so much richer than it would have been. I must be going on for having read 1,000 Talking Books. I’m a member of a talking book group through the RNIB too, which is good fun. 

“They give us a choice of six books and then we come back and have a chat. I have made very good friends and met some wonderful people through the RNIB. That’s why I am so supportive of them and want to encourage others to get behind them.

“Millions of people rely on them for basic things like entertainment that others just take for granted and do every day. A life without that support would be very different.”

With Sean the most striking thing is that despite what he went through he has never lost his sense of optimism and love for life. He refuses to mope or to live a life filled with hatred for the armed robber. He is really and truly happy.

“I’m one of those people who just gets on with life. There’s no point wallowing in self-pity. There are lots of people much worse off than me. I have all my faculties. I have great friends and a supportive family. I do as much as I can. I went through a dark patch but life goes on, it has to.

“No one was brought to justice over it, which was a bit of a shame. I was very angry for a long time, trying to imagine all sorts of retribution to whoever did it. But time goes by and you calm down.

“I was only 22, now I’m the grand old age of 53. I would like to see justice but it isn’t worth thinking about. I have as good a life as it is possible to have. I am incredibly happy with my wife and children. I am very proud of them.

“I can’t say it ruined my life because I don’t know what life I would have had. And when you meet someone as wonderful as Shirley it is hard to be down all the time. When life is good why would you want to change it?”

● Individuals, groups and organisations can sponsor a Talking Book by setting up a JustGiving page with a target of £2,500 for an adult book or £1,500 for a children’s book. See rnib.org.uk/sponsortalkingbooks.