WHEN Shemar Watson commenced his master’s programme at The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, in 2020, little did he know that he would have to overcome more than academic challenges to achieve his degree.

What should have been a two-year programme turned into a five-year journey after Watson began losing his vision just a few months into his first year.

“I started in 2020, but because of the illness, the eye thing, I had to miss out a couple of semesters, and then I ended up making a two-year programme five years. I was supposed to finish in 2022, but because of the illness and missing out some courses, you weren’t able to do some other courses,” Watson told Career & Education.

The 27-year-old described the five-year journey to attaining a master’s degree in media management as stressful, but said it would not have been possible without the support of his mother and cousin, who assisted him with accessing online classes and typing assignments.

“It was very stressful because when I just started my master’s degree, a couple of months in, I couldn’t see. I had to ask my cousin to type for me. So I was going to classes. I had to ask my mommy to log on to Zoom for me,” he said.

Unable to work and earn an income to cover expenses associated with his degree, Watson said his mother, godfather, brother and extended family provided financial support to ensure he completed his studies.

Watson explained that the cause of his vision loss was a medical condition known as uveitis. According to the Mayo Clinic, uveitis is a form of eye inflammation that affects the middle layer of tissue in the eye, called the uvea. It can cause redness, pain, blurred vision and floaters.

However, he said the condition was initially misdiagnosed because he had previously been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in 2018. Ulcerative colitis is a type of inflammatory bowel disease that causes inflammation and sores, known as ulcers, in the colon.

“Because ulcerative colitis causes inflammation, they thought the inflammation was moving to my eye, but it wasn’t that. It was actually a virus in my brain fluid that was causing the inflammation. So I was being treated for the ulcerative colitis for inflammation, but I didn’t know the root cause,” Watson said.

He said side effects from medications such as Prednisone, which are used to treat ulcerative colitis, led to cataracts forming in his eyes. It was not until a spinal tap, a medical procedure used to collect cerebrospinal fluid from the lower spine to diagnose infections, that the root cause of his vision loss was discovered.

“When I did the spinal tap, the fluid that came out, they tested it and found out that it was a virus that was causing the illness,” he added.

The misdiagnosis ultimately resulted in Watson losing vision completely in his left eye in 2021.

“Since 2021, I’ve only been seeing out of one eye, and the next one is irreparable. It was a retinal detachment because they gave me an injection out here in Jamaica, and a side effect of it was a retinal detachment, which you kind of know going in, but nobody picked it up. And it took too long to pick it up, and it’s now irreversible,” he said.

After discovering the root cause of his vision loss, Watson sought medical treatment in the United States, where he underwent cataract removal surgery in 2023.

“I did the surgery on December 22nd. Right after I did the surgery, I could see the difference,” Watson shared.

He, however, noted that his eyesight remains slightly blurry due to a membrane that develops on the eye following cataract surgery. He is expected to return to the United States later this month to have the level of inflammation assessed before laser surgery can be performed on his right eye.

Despite the setbacks, Watson persevered to obtain his master’s degree in November 2025 from the Caribbean School of Media and Communication and the Mona School of Business and Management at UWI.

“I feel really excited, to be honest, I’m ecstatic,” Watson said in response to the achievement.

He is now looking forward to pursuing a doctoral degree with a focus on the dissemination of information for persons with disabilities.