At two years old, our daughter Eliza was diagnosed with bilateral cataracts and only 10% vision. This is an extremely rare condition in children. Eliza underwent three major eye operations and a long stay in hospital to save her vision. The surgeries were a success and Dr Hildebrand and his team at the Oxford Eye Hospital were able to insert an intraocular lens into each eye. Five years later, Eliza still requires daily eye drops, eye patching for a couple of hours every day and hospital visits every other month.

In 2019 we had our third child, Charlie. During a routine check up for Eliza, Charlie was also diagnosed with bilateral cataracts in both his eyes. Our world fell apart. Charlie’s cataracts were more progressive than Eliza’s. At 14 weeks old, Charlie went blind in his left eye and had only 1% vision in his right eye. At only 15 weeks old, Charlie underwent the same major eye surgery as his sister to save his vision. Again, Dr Hildebrand and his amazing team were able to insert intraocular lenses into both Charlie’s eyes to save his sight. Following surgery Charlie had some complications and was on 140 eye drops which needed administrating every hour of the day. Today Charlie is doing incredibly well but we work hard every day to restore his sight and he has hospital visits every other month.

This has been and continues to be an incredibly hard journey for us but we have got through it all because of the support we receive from the Oxford Eye Hospital. Dr Hildebrand and his team give us all the time and support we require and both Eliza and Charlie have always felt comfortable and happy going to hospital and undergoing hours of tests. The doctors, nurses, play therapists and other staff have given our children the most incredible care. We are forever grateful for the Oxford Eye Hospital for what they have done and continue to do for us as a family.

Since Eliza’s diagnosis we have always taken part in the OX5 run to give something back to the hospital. This year Tom and I are both running the virtual OX5 run along with other members of our family and our friends to raise as much money as we can to support other children and families treated by the Oxford Eye Hospital. For the first time Eliza and our second daughter Hettie have also entered the OX5 and after our runs, we will walk 5 miles as a family. Please help us to support this amazing team by sponsoring us on this run! Thank you XX