‘Pickleball saved my sight,’ says Florida woman, 79: ‘I was really worried’

'The Big Saturday Show' panelists weigh in on the growing number of celebrities purchasing professional pickleball teams.

Those who play pickleball are known to gain physical and cognitive benefits from the activity — but for one Florida woman, the fast-growing game also helped to save her sight.

Linda Corcoran, 79, an avid pickleball player and great-grandmother, has been playing the paddle sport three times a week for the past four or five years. 

She knew something was amiss in 2021, when the lines on the court suddenly began appearing wavy and distorted to her.

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"Beyond this affecting my ability to play, I was really worried about what these symptoms meant for my vision and overall eye health," Corcoran told Fox News Digital via email. 

Corcoran also began seeing floaters and wavy lines in both of her eyes – on and off the pickleball court. 

Pickleball is known for offering physical and cognitive benefits — but for one Florida woman, the fast-growing sport helped to save her sight. (Florida Retina Institute)

"When I texted, the letters on the screen looked tilted," she said — which she later found out was due to fluid in her retina.

Corcoran made an appointment with her eye specialist — who diagnosed her with wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD).

The leading cause of vision loss for people age 65 and over, AMD affects 1.5 million people in the U.S., experts say.

Symptoms of wet AMD include blurred vision, blind spots in the middle of the field of vision, difficulty distinguishing colors, and edges or lines appearing wavy, according to Corcoran’s ophthalmologist, Dr. Matthew Cunningham of the Florida Retina Institute.

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