Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

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.

So please dig deep and donate now

.

I was born in 1962 with autosomnal dominant RP which I inherited from my Dad and my Gran and countless generations of my family before them.

 

It has started to affect my life a great deal as I become more aware of my diminishing central vision. I trip and bump into things and people, I find myself talking to thin air because someone has walked away, I find crowded places stressful.

 

As a mother I have had to cope with the heartbreak of passing on this condition to three of my four children and the grief of my daughter’s RP mutating into a more serious eye condition known as Coat’s disease.

 

My family and friends, those with RP and those without, have challenged this disease, making the best of a bad situation.  We have been able to do this because we have had tremendously powerful role models in our midst.  People who challenge the disease in many ways:  by showing great stoicism, bravery and emotional resilience; by communicating with each other; by engaging in physical and sporting activities; by caring for and supporting family members as their sight diminishes;  by hosting and attending gatherings which are full of joy and bind people together; by embracing meaningful careers in the face of RP, by developing their talents in music, art, academia, writing, cookery, building, marketing, business...... and recently by raising tens of thousands of pounds for clinical research. 

 

Recently research is making breakthroughs.  Backed by the RP Fighting Blindness Gene Team appeal, young children will soon be involved in sight saving clinical trials.  These children have an inherited condition called achromatopsia which is similar to a severe form of RP.  The success of these UK trials will have implications for the future treatment of RP and many other eye diseases.  The concept of this treatment is surprisingly simple – replacing a faulty gene in retinal cells with a good copy – though of course the cutting edge technology is incredibly complex.

 

This is why my Auntie Liz and I have decided to join in the Carrots Night Walk 2013 in Glasgow.  The Carrots Night Walks are organised by RP Fighting Blindness’s sister charity, “Fight for Sight”, in major UK cities.  The brilliant thing is that “Fight for Sight” will match £30,000 of the sponsorship raised by RP Fighting Blindness walkers and this will go directly to the research work! 

 

Liz and are grateful to all the others who have fund-raised for RPFB on our behalf in recent years and we now wish to do our bit.  We both feel passionately that this disease and others like it should be stopped in their tracks.  We want a brighter future for our family members and other families in the same situation.

 

We are walking the 6 mile night-walk after dark in Glasgow on 20 September. With photoreceptors like ours this will be a slight challenge! We will be walking with people representing many eye charities.  Apart from raising funds, the walk will raise awareness of sight problems and will have many lasting positive effects.

 

Please support us by giving a donation on my Justgiving page or Liz’s, by joining us on the walk on 20 September or by spreading the word about our fundraising appeal and our links.