In his dreams, Matthew Syron is chasing his son Brixon into the sea near their Bellambi home. The sun is out, it's warm and the little boy is just within reach.
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But it's cold and usually raining when Mr Syron wakes. Brixon is half a world away and Mr Syron can't see him. He can't see much at all.
The father-of-two travelled to his home city of Leeds in the UK late last year to visit family and has been forced to stay there ever since, having suffered horrific injuries in a alleged nightclub glassing attack on December 27.
The attack left him instantly blinded and fearful he would never see the faces of Brixon 3, and his daughter Meka-Rose, 1 again.
Mr Syron recently became well enough to move from hospital to his father's Leeds home.
He told the Mercury he could now see "light and blurs" out of his most seriously damaged left eye, but that doctors had opted to wait a year before attempting a cornea transplant on that side.
He said he had "a little bit of hope" of more quickly regaining meaningful sight in his right eye, having recovered some vision in that eye after two surgeries.
"With every day that passed after the second surgery, a little bit more light would come in," he said.
"At the point I'm at now, I can see my hand in front of my face. I can see the shape of the person in front of me, I can see colours.
"Over the past two weeks it's been gradually getting better and better. But it can only get to certain stage because I've got no lenses in my eyes and got a thing called a buckle, which goes around the eyeball and keeps my eye under tension. It's best to have my eyes closed all the time because it lets the buckle do its work."
Mr Syron said he was hoping he would be well enough to make the journey home to Australia after an upcoming third surgery.
"I'll find out if the retina's attached correctly and get rid of any scar tissues, because I had 30 stitches in the right eye," he said.
A self-employed electrician and competitive ironman, Mr Syron's community and strangers have rallied to support him and his family while he is laid up, raising more than $60,000 in a gofundme campaign.
His concerned mother has spent weeks sleeping on the hospital floor, at his side.
Mr Syron said he was buoyed by the arrival of his fiance Keone Rawiri in the UK this week. Until now Ms Rawiri had remained in Australia, having to care for the couples' children, Mr Syron's business and her own full-time job.
'I've been in darkness for so long'
Mr Syron said his spirits had also been lifted by his recent return to the gym, with his brothers taking him for light stretches and walks on a treadmill.
"Going from training 100 miles an hour to nothing was pretty degrading, in my mind," he said.
"I've been relying on other people I've never been so vulnerable - it's scary.
"I've been in darkness for so long. Your other sense play a massive part - you can hear everything, smell everything when you've had your sight taken away from you."
Fundraising for the Syrons continues. Meantime, Mr Syron's gym, Athletic Culture in Russell Vale, will be hosting Sweat for Syron Mega Session - an ironman-style workout - on Saturday at 8.15am to raise further funds. Tickets cost $25. Visit the gym's website to buy tickets.
Mr Syron said he was incredibly thankful to his supporters
"There's a lot of evil in the world, but the good just outweighs the evils, and this just shows it," he said.
"I just can't wait to get home. I just hope this next surgery goes well and I can be on my way back to Australia.
"Honestly, it's all I dream about. I wake up; it's all I think about."