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.

My name is Robert Juan Greggor and I am a student at the University of Central Lancashire. I’m also a Guide Dog Owner, and have been since 2013 when I qualified with my first Guide Dog. Sadly, in March 2016 she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and retired. Since then, I have trained with another Guide Dog and am graduating in BA Hons Counselling and Psychotherapy Studies this year.

Guide Dogs are a charity which is very close to my heart, they have supported me greatly since owning a Guide Dog and I am sure I would not be as happy as I am without them. I have been registered Blind since I was 17 and suffer from Depression from time-to-time. Having a Guide Dog around really lifts me up and gives me purpose and responsibility when I’m feeling down. When my first Guide Dog was medically retired, Guide Dogs stepped into action and provided all notes needed for Extenuating Circumstances with my University and managed to train me in the summer with my second Guide Dog. This support helped massively as it gave me that opportunity to breathe through such a traumatic transition, but also gave me focus during the summer in training with my new Guide Dog.

Volunteering is an important part of my life, which is why I am the Chair of the Guide Dogs Society at UCLAN and frequently fundraise with the Guide Dogs Preston Fundraising Branch. I take great pleasure in these roles and giving back what has been given already. I wish to raise funds for Guide Dogs so that they can continue supporting people through Sight Loss and providing such a fantastic service!

I’ve always wanted to do a skydive, but never really felt confident enough to. Losing my sight, I’ve become scared of heights as I cannot predict how far something is away from me, so a skydive would be the ultimate challenge and scary thrill for 45 seconds. I’ll be doing a tandem skydive at Black Knight’s Parachute Centre on 6th July along with staff from the Guide Dogs Manchester Mobility School, and aim to upgrade on the day to a 15,000ft jump.