It was a gloriously sunny day in 1984, I was 13 and even more sulky than usual because instead of heading to swim training with my friends, I had to go and see a doctor to have lights shone in my eyes.

He told me that I was going blind.  Maybe fast, maybe slow. Either way, there was nothing that anyone could do about it. 

It didn’t feel real so I decided to ignore it. Problem gone. But then other things began vanishing too. Night sight.  Kerbs. Printed words. The path ahead got murky.

What forced me to stop trying to hide from reality? Maybe it was the metallic rush of blood that flooded my mouth on the day I powered into the side of the pool face first, knocking loose my front teeth. 

As my sight disappeared, I had to make a lot of adjustments to my life.  One of the best is engaging with research. For a long time there was no hope of a cure.  But that’s changed. Exciting breakthroughs in gene therapy mean there’s a real chance we’ll all see the day when no one with this condition has to face blindness.

So now I’m doing the Yorkshire Ultra Challenge to raise money for Retina UK. I’ll be walking 100km continuously through day and night until I reach the finish. I’ll have a volunteer sighted guide, James, who’s going to make sure I arrive with all of my teeth :-)

Your support means a lot. Together, we can bring about a new future for every teenager getting diagnosed with progressive sight loss today.  A lot or a little could make a world of difference.