This seems crazy. I used to hate running, and now I find myself running my first marathon. I think if I can do this, without stopping and in a reasonable time, then I will have proved to myself there is little I can't achieve without some training and a lot of perseverance and mental strength.

Take my research for example. I never thought I'd get a PhD, let alone be funded to undertake leading research into finding the causes of severe ocular birth defects. Thanks to funding from Fight for Sight, my work will help to understand the basic biology of key stages during eye development, and help to identify disease genes, potential therapies and possibly even cures for eye disorders.

By pledging a small donation, you are funding my work, as well as countless other FfS-funded scientists, who all have the common aim of working hard to help our understanding and treatment of devastating eye diseases. Fight for sight is the only charity in the UK who fund such research, and the science they fund makes a big impact into our understanding of vision loss, its causes, and in discovering and testing effective treatments.

Thank you, however much you are able to donate.

See you at the end, mine's a Guinness.

Joe

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.