Visually impaired Paralympic Dreams

Help towards the cost of private health care for a complex visual impairment diagnosis in order to swim competitively at a national and international level.

Hi my name is Jody and my daughter, Saffire aged 20 is severely sight impaired. I am her main carer. Having been born at 24 weeks weighing just 600grams she has had a difficult start in life . She received laser treated to prevent blindness aged 4 1/2 months and was diagnosed with very high myopia (short sightedness) aged 18 months. She has high prescription lenses for one eye only with the other being untreatable. She uses a white cain and will never drive .

She is currently under Moorfields eye hospital for investigation into additional issues regarding her vision . Namely pathway connections within her brain . Meaning due to her extreme prematurity some of the pathways from her eye to the part of her brain that deals with vision were not made correctly . This can cause mixed messages being received back and forth . Causing periods of darkness confusion and light sensitivity along with distance and reading issues . The condition is called cortex or cerebral visual impairment. It is a fairly newly recognised condition most of the research has been done over the last 10/15 years. Nothing was known about it when she was born. As she has grown and been able to communicate better about her difficulties I’ve recognised she may be suffering with the condition .

But getting it diagnosed is problematic due to waiting times in the NHS . And due to actual sight having been mistreated by her previous hospital she has had to have this corrected before full investigation in the brain can’t be done . So far we have been with Moorfields for 2 years nearly and are being referred back to a neurological specialist again next now she has correct prescription for her glasses .

We maybe waiting another 6 to 18 months .

Regardless of all her difficulties Saffire loved swimming , an activity that made her feel free and independent .

She started 1 to 1 lesson aged 12 and then joined Hackney Aquatics. Progressed brilliantly, achieved Para swimmer of the year there. She now swims for Newham University of East London and London disability swimming clubs .

Over the years she has won many medals and is at a stage where if we can get her classified she could potentially swim for Great Britain para team as she is below the national qualifying times for her disability group . Her last 50m freestyle time was 35.26 seconds and the qualifying time is 44-48 seconds .

Para sports require lots of medical details and

Her Dream would be to swim for GB and potentially go on to swim in an Paralympic Games .

Because of the amount of time we could be waiting for a diagnosis on the NHS and she is getting older and disheartened with not being able to achieve what I believe she is absolutely capable of . I would like to get her seen privately by Dr Richard Bowman a specialist in ophthalmology based in Harley Street and Great Ormand Street

hospital in order to speed up the diagnosis time.

This would help her get her classification and help her achieve her dream

Private treatment and investigation is expensive so I am asking for help with this expense for her . She would have to have consults and further tests on her brain .