At the age of 58, I wasn’t too sure how to react when my fellow hockey club team mates said “why don’t we do a tandem free fall parachute jump with the Red Devils, the British Army Parachute Regiment Display Team?”. After all what could possibly go wrong?

However after a pint of IPA, it was pointed out what a great opportunity this was to raise money for a good cause close to my heart. At that point the decision was made. So, on May 17th, I’ll be jumping out of plane at a height of 13,500 feet (about 2.5 miles) somewhere over Salisbury Plain.

I’ll be trying to raise as much money as I can to support the charitiy Suffolk Sight.

I’m doing this because my Dad has battled with glaucoma for the last 10 years and is now almost completely blind.

Suffolk Sight continue to provide unstinting and invaluable support to both Mum and Dad – they are a small charity who work to improve the lives of people affected by sight loss throughout the county.

My story

At primary school, when we were learning about the five senses, I remember trying to imagine which of them it would be worst to lose. After blundering around with my eyes closed for a few seconds it was not being able to see that worried me most.

Now, over 50 years on, I’ve witnessed Dad bravely battle with deteriorating eye sight over the last few years. At first it was just “higher than normal pressure in his eyes as a result of glaucoma”, next he couldn’t see the ball when he struck a good drive of the first tee. Then he couldn’t drive his car or see the golf ball to hit in the first place. He got a white stick; going out in bright sunlight became painful and disorientating and finding his way round even familiar places became more and more difficult. Always good with his hands, those jobs round the house became more and more difficult and his tools haven’t been used for some time. His beloved stamp collection has been sold as he can’t see it and now it’s difficult for Dad to even see the food on his plate. It’s incredibly frustrating for him and worrying for Mum and the rest of the family.

Despite all this, technology has been Dad’s saviour. With the support and advice of Suffolk Sight, Dad has embraced it whole heartedly. Whether it be talking watches, digital magnifiers with colour overlays, iPads or text to speech software they’ve been able to help and advise. He’s following the cricket and rugby on his iPad and still writing the family memoirs on his computer. We measure his progress by the number of volumes and his eyesight deterioration by the size of font he uses - currently Arial 24 bold read at a distance of about 6 inches!!

But it’s also the personal touch from Suffolk Sight that means Mum and Dad have always had friendly support from local people that have been on a similar journey that has been so invaluable to them.

So when I step into thin air with 2.5 miles of nothing below me, I’ll be doing it to support Mum and Dad and others like them and hoping I can raise a contribution towards helping everyone with glaucoma to support, treat and find a cure for a condition that has had such a big impact on them in recent years.

So please contribute as much as you can.

Thank you so much.

Andrew