Guide Dogs & Erin

Our daughter Erin was born with a visual impairment which has obviously affected her life and that of our family.

Through all of it however we have had the support of Guide Dogs; from her early mobility and long cane training, education support and environmental auditing of her school to make sure that she could access everything on an equal footing with her peers.

We have had equipment provided by Guide Dogs to allow Erin to access technology more capably, they produce large print books through the CustomEyes service that are tailored to each individual child but cost no more than the standard RRP.

Guide Dogs also campaign for improved access to education and ensuring that the provision of services for visually impaired children (as well as adults) is equal across the country. We have been fortunate to have been well supported by the Local Authority but that isn't the case for everyone.

Significantly however we have benefited from Guide Dogs and their Buddy Dog programme.

Quince joined our family in early 2020 and has changed all of our lives.

He was a qualified Guide Dog and worked for around 6 months but he decided that he didn't really like the job. Guide Dogs had just relaunched the Buddy Dog scheme to create partnerships between visually impaired children and dogs that did not enter in to guiding service.

Erin's confidence and independence has been massively improved since we were partnered with Quince. From the quiet and shy little girl who wouldn't leave our side when we went anywhere, Erin is now a confident young lady with her Buddy Dog by her side.

Erin is an active volunteer with Guide Dogs now and has:

• Spoken on stage at the Guide Dogs Christmas Wishes concert in 2021
• Delivered dog training demonstrations at the Guide Dogs booth at Crufts on several occasions
• Met with royalty to explain how Quince helps her and what Guide Dogs has done for her
• Met with MPs in Parliament to highlight how important it is that access to education is equal, regardless of visual impairment.
• Been involved in many other demonstrations and campaigns with Guide Dogs

None of this would have happened without the support and companionship that Quince gives her and the confidence she has found.

Great North Run 2023

Guide Dogs can't do all of this without funding. The training and care that Quince received before coming to us doesn't come cheaply and Guide Dogs relies on charitable donations to do their work.

That is why I decided to raise money for Guide Dogs by running the Great North Run in 2023. 

This is the biggest Half Marathon in the world, 21.1 kilometres (13 and a bit miles) through Newcastle and South Shields. For someone who only started running last year it is going to be tough! My main aim is to just make it to the finish line, beyond that I have no particular goal time.

I will be joined by my sister Rachel and her partner Martin and hopefully we can show our support for Guide Dogs and all of their work.