Hello there, 

Thanks for checking out my JustGiving page.

Let me tell you how I came to running the London Marathon. A marathon is something I have always thought about doing but always had the 'That's a massive 42.2km - is it possible!' thought. 

Things changed for me a little when back in October 2009. I had a very unfortunate thing happen to me where I was the victim of an unprovoked attack by a gang on the street. As a result I had a very badly damaged left eye including an orbital floor fracture (fracture of the eye socket), traumatic hyphema, orbital haemorrhage, a split lower eye lid, traumatic mydriasis, a torn pupil muscle and development of a cataract as a result of the trauma. I had no vision whatsoever in my left eye for 3 days. It was a very scary situation and doctors couldn't tell me much due to the internal bleeding and swelling. At this point I was told I had to wait and see! After many visits to the Eye Hospital and administering countless amounts of eyedrops, my vision thankfully improved very slowly over the next 3-4 weeks, however, it has not completely healed. The doctors at the Western Eye Hospital in London have been fantastic; and I am having continual tests on my eye. I will very possibly face surgery on my cataract which is the replacement of my natural lens for an artificial one. Post surgery; glasses or a contact lens will hopefully give me a good result. 

During this time I realised that vision is something I had always taken for granted. Some people aren't so lucky and live with blindness permanently. Everyday people get devastating news that they will lose or have lost their vision permanently.

I decided to try to do something small to help the vision impaired. In a moment of impulse I applied to run the London Marathon and raise money for the Guide Dogs without even considering that my previous longest run was 14km. I had brilliant news early January that I had been accepted to run for the Guide Dogs and had no hesitation in gracefully accepting and committing myself to raising £1,500! 

I would be very very appreciative if you were to sponsor me on my quest to raise my target amount and give me encouragement along the way. I have started training hard for the big race on 25th April 2010, however I don't have long to go. I promise to keep you posted on my progress.

Thank you again,

I really appreciate your support.

John.

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