Blind bowler also a healthcare angel to the elderly

Northmead resident May Homer (63) is a born and bred Benonian who is not only a registered nursing sister but in her spare time also takes on the bowls world, blind.

Homer was born at Life the Glynnwood Hospital in Benoni into a family that played and enjoyed sports.

“I always wanted to play a sport, but because of my disability, I was unable to, until I discovered bowls,” she said.

She was born with congenital glaucoma, normally known as childhood glaucoma, which occurs in babies and young children. It is usually diagnosed within the first year of life and is a rare condition that may be inherited, caused by incorrect development of the eye’s drainage system before birth.

“After several operations to release the pressure in my eyes, I received my first cornea transplant at the age of 14 months. I was the youngest person in South Africa to receive a cornea transplant. I have had many surgeries and corneal transplants on both eyes, with varying success to restore and maintain my sight,” she explained.

However, Homer has only ever been able to see out of one eye and her vision has always been poor, which eventually led her to play bowls within the B2 category.

“There are four categories for visually impaired bowlers,” she explained:
• B4: Many players in this category have a tunnel or peripheral vision so they can see the bowls in the head, but not the entire head.
• B3: Players in this category can typically recognise contours between two and six metres away, where a person with normal vision would identify the same contours at 60 meters.
• B2: Players in this category can typically identify an object at two meters, where a person with normal vision would identify the same object at 60 meters.
• B1: Players in this category are unable to recognise the shape of a hand at any distance or in any direction.

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“My mother was a member of Northmead Bowling Club. With the help of some of the members, I tried to play,” she said.

“Initially, it was not at all successful, but I then joined the National Association for Blind Bowlers (now Visually Impaired Bowlers South Africa) where they taught me techniques to enable me to play.

“Once I could play a reasonable game, I was in my element and have never looked back.”

After attending St Columbus in Benoni and St Dominic’s High School in Boksburg where she matriculated, Homer enrolled as a student nurse with the support of her ophthalmologist and the matrons at Boksburg Benoni Hospital where she then qualified as a sister and midwife three years later and added a community nursing degree in 1987.

“I officially started playing bowls in 2005. I just love the sport and being able to put my skills against an opponent on an equal footing, the social camaraderie that is found at bowling clubs and just the overall pleasure of participating in the sport,” she said.

“The idea that bowls is for old people is no longer the case. More and more young people are joining. There are now specific tournaments for u-15s and u-20s.

“One of the beauties of bowls is it can be played by anyone and once you start, you can play it for the rest of your life. I have had the privilege to represent South Africa six times and have met bowlers from all over the world, young and old, abled and disabled, all of whom have impressed me with their ‘We can do it’ attitude.”

Homer has been a part of four different bowling clubs:
• Northmead Bowling Club from 2005 to 2013
• Benoni Country Club Bowls from 2013 to 2021
• NABB Central Gauteng from 2005 to 2014
• VIBE from 2014 to 2021

“Three of my greatest achievements that I always fondly think of were winning gold medals in the singles category at the South African National Disability Tournaments, I won the South African Disability masters in 2007 and won the gold medal in singles and pairs at the World Bowls Tournament in Worthing, UK,” she said.

“The most difficult thing for a visually impaired bowler is visualising the position of all the bowls in the head. Most people can see the position of the bowls that have been delivered and can plan how to play their shots accordingly.

“I have to rely on someone telling me where my bowls and my opponent’s bowls have come to rest so I can build an image of that. Sometimes, I then have to deliver a bowl to come around or inside a bowl or even to hit a bowl to move it out of the way, all without being able to see where it is.”

Homer’s husband is her director and support system when playing her sport.

“He is my long-suffering director who gets dragged from tournament to tournament,” she chuckled.

“During a game, he gives me information about the head to enable me to decide how to play. I usually play social bowls without a director as most of the players at Benoni Country Club are great at giving me the information I need.”

This ‘go getter’ also worked as a sister at Tambo Memorial Hospital located in Boksburg before moving to Johannesburg and taking up a position at the Rand Clinic where she worked until 1988.

“My husband and I then moved back to Benoni and started a family,” she concluded.

Homer now works at the Methodist Home for the Aged Eddy House in Benoni and still plays bowls in her spare time.

Alan Geddes, a manager at Methodist Homes Eddy House in Benoni, put forward his opinion on Homer as the dedicated blind bowler and nurse she is known around Benoni for:

“I want to put forward the name of Sr May Homer, a nursing sister at Methodist Homes Eddy House in Benoni. May is no stranger to readers in Benoni, she is a world-class blind bowler, but to many in Benoni, she is an angel.

May is not only the nursing manager for MHA Eddy House but she also single-handedly runs the outreach programme, providing clinical services to Denys Conradie, Pauline Davis Court, the Salvation Army, Farramere Gardens and many other elders in their home.

“May would put a shift of younger people to shame with the amount of care work she crams into her days and nights. When the Covid-19 lockdowns started, Homer turned up for work every day at Eddy House to make sure the elders were cared for, even going as far as delivering meals from door to door.

“Even while recovering from a debilitating bout of Covid-19, she never ceased reaching out to those in her care. She has been an unsung local healthcare hero.

“On behalf of the manager and all the elders at MHA Eddy House, we would welcome the chance to have our nurse, our friend and our angel celebrated for the healthcare hero she is.”

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