LIVING WITH RP

Tom

Tom is 23 years old.

At 18, following eye tests suggested by his driving instructor, he was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa. “You will never drive and you will gradually lose your sight over the next few years”, the specialist told him. Tom is one of 4000 Australians suffering inherited retinal blindness. For some, the condition also involves deafness. At 23 he is legally blind and dealing with all the issues surrounding a loss of independence, social isolation and an uncertain future.

Retina Australia provides information and support to many of these people, their family and friends, as well as raising funds for research into this group of diseases. A cure is tantalisingly close, but it all depends on funding. Retina Australia this year committed to fund the Inherited Retinal Disease Register and DNA bank which will provide a resource for researchers worldwide. Over the next three years, the genetic material of 3000 Australians will be collected, stored and made available, free of charge, to approved researchers. The cost of the project is substantial, but the potential benefits, enormous.

You can assist in helping Retina Australia change the lives of thousands of Australians. The cost for one sample to be stored with the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital Institute for Medical Research is $3.30 per month.

  • For $39.60 you would be funding one DNA sample for a year, which may just be the breakthrough everyone is waiting for.
  • $118.80 would fund the collection and storage of one sample for the life of the project.

Like many others, Tom is looking to the future with cautious optimism.

You can join Ian Healy in his support of this worthwhile cause. Portrait view

Your tax deductable donation will make a difference.                       

 

 

 

 Ian Healy, Patron