Lorraine A. Swalberg hasn’t had an easy life, and yet she’s one of the happiest people you could hope to meet. Despite living with total vision loss for the past 16 years, the Spanish Fork native still lives a rich, purposeful life. She finds joy in serving others and knits hats for the homeless and needy. During a time of year that is as sad for some as it is happy for others, perhaps Swalberg’s message of service and perseverance will find its way to the heart of someone who needs it.
At the age of 16, Swalberg was diagnosed with a condition called Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP). The rare genetic eye disease causes cells in the retina to gradually break down. This eventually leads to partial or complete vision loss. There is currently no cure for RP. Swalberg also developed partial hearing loss and had a cochlear implant placed in her right ear about 10 years ago. She acknowledged that being totally blind as well as hearing impaired complicates her living situation.
People with RP lose their eyesight at different rates. Some go completely blind within a few years of their initial diagnosis while others enjoy decades of decent vision. In Swalberg’s case, the disease progressed fairly slowly. She lost her peripheral vision but still had central vision until right after her husband passed away in 2006. After that, it only took a couple of years for her remaining vision to fade completely away.
Rather than focusing on the challenges of her current condition, Swalberg chooses to remain positive. She shared that she doesn’t think it’s a coincidence that her disease was so slow to progress for most of her life.
“I know the Lord had a lot to do with it because he knew I couldn’t handle raising my five children and being blind,” she said.
Swalberg also expressed gratitude for having enough of her vision left to be able to care for her husband during his final years.
Soon after she lost her husband, Swalberg took a class for the blind to learn how to knit on a loom. She made her first hat during that time but didn’t make anything else for a while. A few years later, she decided to try the loom again and was surprised to discover she still remembered how to use it. So, she started making hats again. In the last five years, she estimates that she’s made several hundred hats.
Swalberg willingly gives the hats away to whoever can use them. Originally, an attentive member of Swalberg’s Latter-day Saint ward made arrangements for her hats to be delivered to people in need. That ward member has since passed away, but Swalberg explained others have taken the hats to people in need.
Connie Joziegler, Swalberg’s friend and neighbor, explained that Swalberg puts a lot of thought into the hats she makes for the homeless. She doesn’t make them with white, pink, or other light-colored yarns because she doesn’t want them to show dirt. She also makes sure any hats she knits for the homeless are large enough to keep the average adult’s head warm.
Joziegler laughingly recounted a funny experience she had when she visited Swalberg one day. When Swalberg answered the door, she had unknowingly snagged a piece of yarn on her clothing and dragged it throughout the house. Joziegler immediately told her not to move and helped her untangle herself. The two friends still laugh about the experience to this day, even though the unraveled yarn meant Swalberg had to start over on that particular hat. She said it can be frustrating to make a mistake because she can’t easily tell how to fix it without her sight. That means she usually has to unravel the entire piece and start again from scratch.
There have been times when Swalberg had to take a break from hat-making due to trouble with her thumbs. However, she said she plans to continue making hats for as long as she is able. She estimated that it takes her about a day to a day and a half to make one hat. She listens to audiobooks while she knits.
When asked what advice she’d give to others who are physically disabled and want more purpose in life, it didn’t take Swalberg long to respond.
“It was hard at first, but I’ve accepted it and tried to make the best of my situation. I think that’s probably the key because I’m happy and I think I kind of project that to some people,” she said. “And just keep going. You’ve got to keep going. You can’t just sit in a rocking chair because what would you accomplish? I also do my own housework. I do just about everything except when I need to have somebody read something or do something to help me.”
For Swalberg and Joziegler, friendship is also a key to happiness. The two laugh together, have family home evenings together, and go to the temple together each week. Since Jozielger lost her husband in 2016, the two loving friends have become inseparable. Jozielger also brings her dog over to visit Swalberg often, since the two love each other dearly.
Swalberg also stressed the importance of having a good neighborhood and ward.
“I’ve got several people that I can call on if I need something,” she said. “I just hope they all know that I really appreciate it because I know it’s not easy to kind of interrupt your own life to help somebody else. But it really does make a difference in my life.”
