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Stories
Lesley’s vibrant vision
Artist and great grandmother Lesley Hunter hopes to help others see by taking part in glaucoma research.
Artist and great grandmother Lesley Hunter hopes to help others see by taking part in glaucoma research.
Lesley Hunter’s vibrant view of the world shines through all the mediums she paints in – except watercolor.
“I’m a colourist and a very messy painter,” she explains.
“I’ve got a studio where I throw paint around and you can’t do that if you paint watercolor – you have to be very neat and tidy.
“I’m big and bold in my work. I’ve got paint on me, paint on the floor, paint on the dog, paint on everything else.”
Her studio is in Beaufort – a small town in Victoria’s west between Ararat and Ballarat.
She established her studio after years of extensive travelling with her late husband Bill, who in his retirement was a volunteer aid worker.
Together they lived throughout Africa and Southeast Asia – including Rwanda and Thailand.
“Since coming back to Australia in 1996, I’ve always had a studio,” Lesley says.
“I have a gallery and do a lot of work locally and even with eyesight that hasn’t failed yet, though I curse it a bit, glaucoma doesn’t stop me doing what I want with paint.”
Bright sight: Lesley with her painting titled Living Carefree.
History of giving
Lesley has lived with glaucoma for a decade now.
“It just kind of popped up out of nowhere,” she says.
“I believe my parents may have had it, but that is something that I’ve never been able to confirm.”
Lesley’s condition is well managed and she hasn’t let it get in the way of her living her life – though her eyes do get tired after reading a book for a while.
She has also recently returned from a trip to Morocco – and is aware just how important vision is for her travelling.
“Morocco was mostly sand, so if you fell on your nose it doesn’t really matter,” she says.
“I would not feel so secure in very rough terrain – but I don’t consider myself disadvantaged and I certainly don’t let it stop me from doing anything.”
Every six months or so Lesley takes the train from Beaufort into Melbourne to take part in the research currently underway at the Centre for Eye Research Australia.
She was first referred to CERA in 2020 by her eye specialist and CERA Research Fellow Dr Amy Cohn.
The referral came after she was diagnosed with glaucoma, but her connection to CERA started a few years earlier through Bill.
Bill was a registered organ and tissue donor, and when he passed away in 2017 his corneas went to CERA’s Lions Eye Donation Service to restore the sight of others.
“Bill felt very strongly about giving, and this was a natural thing for him to do. His donation came from his very giving spirit,” says Lesley.
In the same generosity of spirit, Lesley is also currently contributing towards putting good vision in reach of more people.
“It’s corny, but if the research team learns something from me that can help someone else see, that’s everything I can hope for,” she says.
Looking together
Sandy Rezk is an optometrist and Clinical Research Coordinator at CERA and first met Lesley in June 2023.
“Since then Lesley has attended six appointments, travelling over two hours each way and reliably completing 17 visual fields tests for us,” she says.
A visual field test measures the range of a person’s vision.
While it is painless and simple to perform – a person just needs to press a button when they see a light – it requires a lot of concentration for a long time.
“She has also done extensive imaging, all at the age of 80 and always with a positive attitude and a great big smile,” says Sandy.
“There’s so much I can say about Lesley’s commitment and passion which has been truly meaningful and inspirational.”
Lesley says Sandy has been a wonderful guide through the experience of research.
“Every time I go into that clinic with Sandy and I look at that machinery I think, ‘Oh my goodness, this doesn’t happen in a little bush optometrist – I’m very fortunate’.”
“And I love going down there and having a chat to Sandy.”
Lesley hopes that her efforts will contribute to new ways to understand and treat glaucoma.
“It’s a bit of a cliché, but if I’m just one more figure on the graph and the research team can learn something from everything they have, that’s what it means to be on the cutting edge,” says Lesley.
“If I can help them achieve that, it’s everything I can hope for.”
World Glaucoma Week 2025
Donate this World Glaucoma Week (9-15 March) and support our work to find new ways to diagnose and treat glaucoma.
Donate this World Glaucoma Week (9-15 March) and support our work to find new ways to diagnose and treat glaucoma.