To be just four years old and in the certain knowledge that you’ll go blind by the time you are a teenager or at the latest in your early twenties. From the earliest age, that’s the future for Vicky.
She is one of those with Leber Congenital Amaurosis (LCA) a severe form of degenerative eye disease. With no cure, it is turning bright futures dark.
The condition affects thousands in the UK and hundreds of thousands worldwide.
Supporters of the charity Esharelife have joined the organisers of an exclusive gala dinner and their guests to ‘dine in the dark’ to help raise money to fund research to speed up research into slowing the advance of the disease.
Diners at the Park Lane Hotel Eyes on the Future event in London will don special glasses for part of the evening to gain a glimpse into the future for very young children whose vision of the future is, even now, narrowing.
Esharelife founder Dr Maurizio Bragagni and his guests will support fundraising on the night (October 10), dining with 250 industry leaders from investment banks and funds, law firms and insurance companies in City of London.
Dr Bragagni’s charity is committed to affecting change for good to those in greatest need, and he was keen for Esharelife to join the groundswell of support for funding for fast-tracked research.
Event partners include Fighting Blindness, Candle in the Dark, the RDH12 Fund for Sight, Through Vicky’s Eyes, Moorfields Eye Hospital and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology.
The money will fund groundbreaking research and slow down the progression of the condition as part of a £350k three-year research project. The work will aim to develop LCA eye condition models from patients own stem cells for testing therapies to potentially slow down the disease’s progression.
The project is supported by a partnership between University College London’s Institute of Ophthalmology and Moorfields Eye Hospital and is led by Dr Mariya Moosajee, leading consultant ophthalmologist and researcher.
Visit www.eyesonthefuture.org.uk to find out how you get involved.