WOMAN WITHOUT SIGHT, BUT NOT WITHOUT A DESIRE FOR HAPPINESS.(MAIN)

Byline: CAILIN BROWN Staff writer

ALBANY For most of her life, Laura Malone Bleck depended on her husband's eyes. She was only 26 when glaucoma took her sight one eye at a time.

They never had children and since Ray died of cancer 14 years ago, she has been alone.

Each day, she takes an injection of insulin for her diabetes and St. Peter's Hospital sends her a meal package with both lunch and dinner. A nurse checks on her weekly.

But she is afraid to take an elevator downstairs to a common area in her apartment building because she can't see the buttons, so she waits for the time when her next-door neighbor can escort her out.

Bleck is 71 and was referred to the Times Union Christmas Fund for the Elderly in Need by the Visiting Nurse Association. She is one of the people who will receive help through the donations of newspaper readers this year. Stories are written about only a small percentage of all of those who …