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Five months after marrying School Board member Chris Harris, Angela Harris began suffering severe headaches and blurred vision in October 2019. She initially assumed she needed a stronger eyeglass prescription. Tests instead revealed a four-centimeter meningioma brain tumor behind her eye.

The tumor was too large for radiation, leaving immediate surgery as the only option. Although the operation successfully removed it, Harris awoke without her sight on Oct. 25, 2019.

It took several days for her to understand that the loss was permanent.

Harris later transformed that upheaval into a mission to support others. She founded the IMperfeKtlymade Foundation, a nonprofit that works with other organizations to provide services and glasses to blind and visually impaired people, including those without insurance or the means to pay.

Last October, the foundation held its first fashion-show fundraiser at The Garden in Alexandria. The event featured blind and visually impaired models and offered participants access to a community activity from which they can sometimes feel excluded.

Harris has also shared her experience in a new book, “Life As I See It: Finding Strength Through Adversity.” Released last month after two years of writing and revisions, the book recounts her struggles, coping strategies and determination to remain active.

She wants readers to understand that losing sight does not eliminate a person’s abilities—it changes how certain things must be done.

The final image Harris remembers is seeing her husband before entering the operating room. She misses watching him smile and seeing their children. She now has a granddaughter she has never been able to see, but she remains grateful that she can hold and feed her.

Harris also uses screen-reading technology to operate computers, cellphones and other devices. Her family, particularly the husband who has remained beside her throughout the ordeal, continues to be a major source of strength.

Her foundation’s work gives her another reason to stay hopeful. Harris believes blind people are often left out because others do not know what accommodations to make, rather than because they deliberately intend to exclude them.

“We can’t let one little thing discourage us from continuing to live,” Harris said.