Mikey was born in 2010 a perfectly healthy baby with no problems at all. When Mikey turned 6yrs old we took him for a random eye test where the optician noticed something not quite right with his retinas which sit at the back of the eye. A few months later he was diagnosed with a rare eye disease called 'rod cone dystrophy' (or 'retinitis pigmentosa'), and the doctors told us he would eventually go blind. They did not confirm how long it would take but mentioned it could potentially take decades. Mikey was still fully sighted at this point.

Unfortunately Mikey lost his vision completely within 18 months by the time he was just over 7yrs old, leaving him fully blind.

Mikey always loved playing and watching football, and especially attending the Emirates to watch Arsenal. He loved football so much he always dreamt of being a footballer and refused to give up on his dream. As devastating and difficult as it was, he persevered with football despite his vision loss and practised every day, adapting his style of play and homing in on his other senses. Soon after losing his vision at 7yrs old he was scouted to train for the England National Football team, the youngest ever blind person to be scouted to play for England.

Our aim in life is to find a cure for Mikey's blindness, and other peoples around the world. We hope to achieve this by funding a team to screen Mikey's bloods to firstly identify the gene (or set of genes) responsible for this. Once identified we will begin clinical trials with the end goal being an effective gene therapy to cure this devastating eye disease.

Mikey's motto is "Never Give Up". We must believe there will be a cure one day. Check out Mikey's social media accounts (Instagram/Tiktok/X/Facebook/Youtube/LinkedIn) to be amazed and inspired!