As some of you already know my girls have sight loss after they contracted a disease called Retinopathy of Prematurity. It is a disease that comes with extreme prematurity, caused by too much oxygen, they weighed just over a pound when born. But today, this isn’t a sad story. My girls are fine, they’re full of life, don’t stop messing around and are full of happiness and smiles - If miracles were a thing I’d believe they were both just that.

So there’s Maisy and then there’s Summer. Maisy has sight in one eye and is as mischievous as she should be (considering the parents she’s been dealt 😂) and is a long haired little ball of joy. Summer sadly lost all vision but again is funny, cheeky and lights up the world but obviously needs lots of support.

One day Summer will need a guide dog. This will bring her freedom and independence, something most of us are naturally blessed with. The girls are now 6 years old and hopefully in the not so distant future Summer will start off with a ‘buddy’ dog. This is a dog that either didn’t quite pass the training or has had to retire for some reason. It won’t be a guide dog as such but it will enable Summer to learn how to care for her friend and be independent with it on her own. Although not guaranteed, hopefully she will get a guide dog when she’s a bit older and into her teens. At this point Maisy is doing very well, in fact she is top of the year for reading and writing!! Although she has sight in one eye; due to previous treatment, we have been advised that it is possible the treatment could fail at any point, so one day Maisy too may need a guide dog.

Most people are not aware that the guide dogs are a charity with no government funding and they need help. In 2018, it cost around £63,000 to breed, train and support a guide dog from birth to retirement, however, the cost of a guide dog is impacted not just by the cost of breeding and training, but also the cost of all of our support functions for the partnership over an average of seven years, as well as external support such as food and vets’ bills. A guide dog owner may have as many as eight guide dogs in their lifetime bringing the total cost to around £500,000.

People volunteer their time and donate to help which is amazing and reminds me how beautiful humanity can be. So I want to do something.. and I’ve decided to run. I’ve decided to try and and help a little bit, not just for my girls but for all the people out there that need help, that need a companion that will bring independence and make life just a little bit easier. So I’ll be running the Plymouth half marathon on 17th May 2020 and am looking for sponsorship. I’ve already started training and you can find me running around Plymouth like Forest Gump at any hour of the day 😁

Anyway.. I’d appreciate it if you could spare a bit of change to help me reach my target. As a treat I will post some pictures of me in distress at the finish line 🏃🏻‍♂‍🐌..🥴🤢... 🥵...💧🚬...🏅😎

Thanks for listening and have a good day ✌️ & 💙

Almost two million people in the UK are living with sight loss that has a significant impact on their daily lives. Of those, around 180,000 rarely leave their homes alone and lead lonely, isolated lives. Guide Dogs works for a world where people with sight loss are never left out of life, for a world where being blind or partially sighted is not what defines you. A world with enough support to make the challenges of sight loss no barrier to fulfilling hopes and dreams.