Mum could barely complete the school run, then doctors said her 'eyeball could explode'

A mum had a glittery false eye after losing one to a extremely rare condition. Holly Swindells, 34, sought medical attention after her right eye began getting painful and red.

Holly also started getting nosebleeds, as well as coughing up blood. After taking a number of trips to A&E and her GP with no progress, the pain became so bad that Holly ended up bedbound.

It took a blood test to reveal that Holly was suffering from granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA). This is a rare form of vasculitis and causes inflammation of the blood vessels including those in the eyes.

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In Holly's case the inflammation became so bad that she had to have her eye removed. This was because the pressure created by the swelling could have been enough for the eyeball to burst.

As for the coughing up blood and nosebleeds, these were the result of blood vessels haemorrhaging from inflammation as well. Holly, from Bolton, recalled how she first realised that something was wrong.

"Over time my eye got unbearably painful - it felt like a red hot poker being stabbed through my head constantly," she said. "I had no idea what GPA vasculitis was - but I was relieved that I finally knew what was wrong.

"By the time I had my eye removed, I had gone blind on that side anyway - I just wanted it out so the pain would stop. I've been having treatments to help with painful inflammation in my joints, but I'm not in remission yet.

"Now I want to raise awareness - a lot of people don't know about GPA vasculitis. I lost my eye but I've come to accept it - and my daughter loves telling everyone about her mummy's glitter eye."

Holly currently doesn't work due to illness, and is mum to Violet, seven, and Franklin, aged three. Her symptoms first began back in December 2021.

At first Holly's optician prescribed her steroid eye drops. However despite this her eyes were still red.

Just a few months after her symptoms began Holly's eye had become "unbearably painful". Not only that, but pain in her joints meant she had to stay in bed.

She said: "I felt like my body was shutting down from the pain. I couldn't do school runs for my daughter and I couldn't even lift up my baby son.

"I tried everything - cold compresses, painkillers, rest, prescription medication. Nothing helped."

Despite having her eye removed, Holly's particular form of GPA vasculitis is resistant to medication. This means that she still suffers with some symptoms.

She said: "I struggle to walk because of my joints and my chest. I've had reoccurrences of my lung haemorrhages too.

"Because of the chemotherapy, I get lots of infections too because my immune system is weak. And it's hard to avoid them with two young kids."

By July 2023 Holly had gone completely blind in her right eye. This was the point it was decided that it would be best to remove the eye completely.

"By this point, I was in that much pain that I would have clawed it out with a spoon if I could," said Holly. "After it was removed, they biopsied it and found the eye was full of inflammatory tumours that had grown and grown.

"They told me my eye had been about two weeks away from popping in my head."

Now, Holly says that she feels "empowered" to draw attention to her eye. It can be good to start conversations, as well as raise awareness.

She said: "I'd rather people see and know it's fake rather than looking at me and wondering what's wrong. You'd think you wouldn't want anyone to know until you actually lose an eye - to me, it feels more normal having a colourful one."

She added: "I want people to know about the effects GPA vasculitis can have - I've had haemorrhages, sepsis and cellulitis over the years. I want people to know the symptoms and go to the doctors straight away if they have any worries."