<div>This page is set up to raise some funds for a friend of mine who’s son has very quickly lost his sight without any prior illness or warning. His father serves our country and has had to leave deployment as things are getting tough at home.
</div>
<div>Deacon is a beautiful young man and at the young age of 17 has had to pull out of a stage performance of shrek as you can imagine he is heartbroken,
</div>
<div>his mum is trying to hold down a job and look after the siblings whilst taking deacon to much needed appointments.
</div>
<div>I think this may just lighten the burden a little
</div>
<div>We were out in town one day, he was looking for a present for his little brother’s birthday, and he rubbed his eye. As soon as that had happened, he turned to me and said there was something wrong with his vision. He could see a black spot suddenly in his right eye. Over a few days, this gradually led to blurred vision in that eye. I made an optician appointment but could only get one 2 weeks later. Over that time, his vision got worse and worse in that eye.
</div>
<div>We went to the optician and they couldn’t find a reason for the black spot (which had grown in size) or for the blurring in that eye, so they sent us straight to opthamology at the hospital with a referral letter. They checked him for retinal detachment, a displaced lens, and other injuries, but there was no signs of trauma to the eye at all.
</div>
<div>They then decided it could be optic neuritis. However, that’s usually painful and he was having no pain.
</div>
<div>They have been bringing him back every week since then to test his vision. He’s had two normal MRIs, which may have ruled out MS, but that doesn’t always present with brain lesions. He’s had a fluorescein angiogram too, as well as blood tests for a range of things from Lyme disease to TB. Everything so far has come back negative. However, the sight in his eye has gotten progressively worse. Last Thursday, on Evelyn’s birthday, he realised at his appointment that he can no longer see clearly through his left eye.
</div>
<div>They had already trialled him with steroids, but they opted to put him on a lower dose for 8 weeks to see if it helped. They don’t seem to be making a difference.
</div>
<div>He’s now on the urgent pathway, and will be seen by a professor of neuro ophthalmology in Cambridge.
</div>
<div>They say it may still be an autoimmune disease, but they aren’t sure which type. They have also highlighted the possibility of an inherited genetic condition called Leber’s Hereditary Optic Neuropathy. It begins with sudden sight loss that gets worse over a 12 month period until the sufferer is registered blind. Glasses don’t help, there is no medication, and no possible surgery. Not a lot is known about it. 95% of people inherit it from their mother (although it’s not in my family) and the other 5% are just unlucky and have a genetic mutation occur in the womb.
</div>
<div>If it is LHON, he will go blind, and there’s little we can do. If it’s been passed from me, Bowen and Samson will have a 50% chance of also inheriting it. If they do, they will have around an 80% chance of also losing their sight.
</div>
<div>Right now, we don’t know what it is, and the doctors seem flummoxed. They’re going to do a plasma exchange next week as that can help autoimmune conditions, and they’re also doing a lumbar puncture, which can help diagnose them. If the plasma exchange works, we are looking at something autoimmune. If it fails to have any effect, Leber’s is the most likely option, and we will need genetic testing.
</div>

Kate McGowan

Anonymous

John Rennie

Marc Bithell

Michael Fisher

Kalpna Mehta

Mr Joseph Fisher

Camilla Smith

Colleen Bradley

Andrea Fisher

Angela Ledden

Anneliese Higgins

Mark Tebbutt

Emma Estep

Tracey Wickland

Craig Burns

Maria Cecilia De las Heras

Lucy Jones

Help when needed

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

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US + Non-charity COs Only

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fund country is US and user language is English

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Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

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Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

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Mark Rieth IP Address

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desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

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checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

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Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

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Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

currencyCode

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

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Stream Notification

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

Users Receiving Braze KYC Validation Failed

Native 11.3.0 and above

Influencer - Prod

US fundraisers and US users

ai_title_page

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openai

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Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

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challenge-fundraisers

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New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

Enter your donation forHelp when needed