I am running the world-famous London Marathon on Sunday 21st of April 2024! 26.2 miles through the city alongside 40,000 fellow athletes! I am running as part of #TeamSight to raise vital funds for life changing medical research and social impact projects: changing the lives of millions of people in the UK affected by sight loss today and in the future. I am running for a future everyone can see!

I've always liked the idea of running the London Marathon - even before I really took up running. In recent years I've been diagnosed with a couple of eye diseases. In October 2022 I lost most of the vision in my right eye. The image at the top of this page is my attempt to show the difference in the vision between my left and right eyes. The photo was taken as I finished the Great North Run in 2022. Two weeks after it was taken, I realised something was wrong with the sight in my right eye. So, it seems like a fitting time to run the London Marathon to raise funds for Fight for Sight. Here's my story....

Six years ago, during a routine eye test, I was diagnosed with glaucoma. Left untreated, glaucoma can lead to optic nerve damage, which, in turn, can result in permanent loss of vision.  Glaucoma is usually associated with the pressure within the eye, or intraocular pressure (IOP), being too high. Following my diagnosis, I was prescribed eye drops and a tablet to help control the IOP.

Everything seemed fine until, in 2021, my vision seemed to be a bit blurry. Doctors concluded that my blurry vision wasn't due to my glaucoma - they diagnosed me as additionally having a condition known as map-dot-fingerprint dystrophy in both eyes. The treatment was surgery called "alcohol delamination with PTK laser." The surgeon soaked each eye in alcohol for 30 seconds, scraped off the top layer of the cornea (called the epithelium) and then tidied it all up with a laser. It sounds awful, but it was completely painless!  The epithelium regenerates following the surgery. The surgery was very successful - the morning after the procedure my vision had improved incredibly! 

In September 2022, I noticed that the vision in my right eye was very blurry. I saw the consultant and he said the IOP was too high. That same afternoon I had a procedure known as cyclodiode laser treatment to try and reduce the IOP. Initially the procedure succeeded in lowering the IOP, although I was left with mydriasis - so my pupil doesn't constrict normally when subjected to bright light. A week or two later, however, the IOP had risen again and my sight was deteriorating.  I was booked in for further surgery known as a trabeculectomy. During a trabeculectomy, the surgeon creates a new drainage channel in your eye to help excess fluid drain, thereby reducing the IOP.

A couple of months had passed by the time I had my trabeculectomy, and the vision in my right eye had deteriorated substantially. The central vision was now very cloudy and blurry, with very poor contrast. The vision in it was now far too poor to read or watch TV. However, the trabeculectomy succeeded in reducing the IOP, and should stop or at least slow any further damage.

My consultant advised me I should consider having a trabeculectomy on my left eye as a preventative measure. The surgery carries a small risk of sight loss, but I was advised the risk of me losing sight to glaucoma was much greater. So, I went ahead and had the surgery on my left eye. 

Following the trabeculectomy on my left eye everything seemed fine. Thirteen days later, however, I woke to find I could see halos around lights - a sign of high IOP.  The vision in it went very misty for a brief period of time. I knew something was wrong, and went to hospital. Later that day the IOP was measured at 56mmHg - it should be between 10 and 21! A doctor was able to get the pressure down using medication and eye massage. Eye massage involves the doctor pressing really hard on your upper eye-lid, and it's really unpleasant! The trabeculectomy had failed due to scar tissue building up around the site of the drain in my eye. A few days later I underwent a procedure known as "needling" to break up the scar tissue. Thankfully, it was successful, the IOP in my left eye is under control and I've not lost any sight in it. I was very lucky not to lose the sight in my left eye - I didn't know until afterwards that IOP over 40mmHg can lead to serious complications and rapid sight loss.

Currently, there's no way to reverse vision loss due to glaucoma. Fight for Sight are funding several glaucoma research projects. One project in particular, could, one day, make it possible to repair damage and restore vision. That's why I'm going to run the London Marathon to raise funds for them.