Some friends are joining me trekking Kilimanjaro to celebrate my Dad’s big birthday in March. They are: Dad, my brother Ryan, Rob Wickens, Dale Wickens, Rob Wickens Jr, Gary Driver, Ken Lake, Nick Lake, Tony Frost, Ellis Burden, Tom Hanslip, John Newman and Subhash Tanna.

Because of the excellent treatment provided to my cousin Freddie, when he was diagnosed with a potentially blinding eye condition, I am inviting people to sponsor our team trek in order to raise funds for Gift of Sight to support ongoing research into children’s eye diseases. 

When Freddie was two years old he became blind with acute onset bilateral cataracts. A cataract rapidly developed in his right eye then another appeared in his left eye all within only three days. He was blind and became very withdrawn during the following months, which was a difficult time for him and an emotional time for his parents and the whole family. Eventually Freddie underwent operations, needing two on his right eye and one on his left to remove the cataracts, replacing them with new lenses.

After his surgery Freddie had to undergo an intensive course of eye drops (not easy to administer to a toddler) and attended numerous appointments at Southampton Eye Unit in the UK to ensure that he obtained the best possible result. He now attends appointments every two months and is part of a genetic research group which will help with future research into this condition of which the cause is unknown.   

Due to the outstanding care of Jay Self and his team in Southampton Eye Unit Freddie has been able to live a happy, healthy and thankfully normal life.   

Our team will be leaving the UK and heading to Tanzania on the 1st March 2019. We’ve all paid for our trip and your donations will go directly to support Jay and his paediatric vision research team and their studies into the causes of blindness in children. Please dig deep and give generously to encourage our team to complete this great challenge.

Gift of Sight funds world-class research into the prevention and treatment of blindness. Principal areas of research are age-related macular degeneration, the commonest cause of blindness in the Western world, glaucoma, nystagmus, corneal conditions and diabetic eye disease, which is an increasing cause of visual impairment. X19140.