Turning blind has not stopped Zanele Faro from seeing life in a positive light and striving to help people living with diabetes like her.

The 48-year-old from Esther Park near Kempton Park, on the East Rand, lost her eyesight in 2017.

Faro said she woke up in hospital two years ago and was forced to accept that she was permanently blind.

She discovered that she had diabetes in 2016, but it was too late.

"I was declared permanently blind in the beginning of 2017 after I had been admitted due to having a blurry vision," said Faro.

"I cried and kept blinking with the hope that my vision would be restored.

"I wondered how I would ever live again. I wondered about not being able to see my loved ones," she said.

Faro is now a motivational speaker and a mentor for women and youth at a church and in her community.

"I have found healing in building others and when they listen to my story, they look at life differently. I have found my gift," she said, adding that she believed God had a purpose for her life turning out this way.

"God has brought me closer to Him and I have remained hopeful for a miracle in my favour, although I have been told that diabetes is a silent killer.

"My fight against diabetes is a continuous one and I am not giving up. I take care of myself now and I'm happy," Faro said.

She said just when she was coming to terms with her blindness, her husband died last year.

"My whole world collapsed and I was left with my daughter who had to drop out of varsity to assist me," she said.

Faro said she had to be strong and face reality.

"There's so much to be grateful for than eyesight. I am alive, still have a job as a senior administration clerk and have a roof over my head when others don't," a bubbly Faro said.

Her daughter, Kagiso, 23, said she forgets that her mother was blind.

"I have to drive her around, to work and back home."

Kagiso said her mother was her inspiration and best friend.

"The only thing that I must discuss with her is moving the furniture around because she needs to know, so that she does not bump into things or get lost around the house."

Medical practitioner Dr Dithomo Marule said people must be educated about the dangers in diabetes and how they can manage the illness.

"There is diabetes type one that is hereditary and type two that is both hereditary and lifestyle influenced.

"Diabetic patients can turn blind, because sugar levels from diabetes affect the tiny blood vessels in the tissue on the back of the eye called the retina, causing the patient a blurred vision and even blindness," Marule said.

He said diabetes was a group of diseases that affect how a person's body uses blood sugar (glucose).