Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

I have Birdshot chorioretinopathy, a rare disease which leads to blindness. Like many rare diseases, very little is known about why we get it and how we can prevent it.  It affects children and adults and is an auto-immune, chronic, blinding uveitis which is treated with toxic medications.  These medications severely affect our health, mortality and quality of life, but help us to preserve some sight.  At the moment, there is no known cure for Birdshot. 

Together with Annie Folkard, I set up a charity - BUS, the Birdshot Uveitis Society (find it at: www.birdshot.org.uk ) to support people with Birdshot  (we support more than 300 people) and to find a cure or less toxic medications so we can stop the next generation from losing their sight or losing their health to this disease.  Fight For Sight are working with us and I am night walking for 15 miles on my birthday, 21 September, to raise money to go towards a birdshot biobank and research into Birdshot.  This is quite a challenge, as those of us with Birdshot cannot see anything at night! Here's hoping we can find the correct route!

The biobank costs £140,000 and will hold blood and DNA samples from all us Birdshotters, so that research can be undertaken.  The biobank will be based in London, but will be accessed by researchers throughout the UK and internationally.

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 and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

All money donated to me will go towards Birdshot research, So please dig deep and donate now.