FUNDRAISING is underway for 22-year-old Saundersfoot local Lloyd Davies, who desperately needs pioneering eye surgery in the United States who lost his eyesight after being diagnosed as suffering from Lebers Hereditary Optical Neuritis (LHON).

Led by Professor John Guy, the gene therapy treatment is the first in the world that could potentially cure LHON and fundraising is now well underway to help Lloyd raise the £10,000 he needs in order to make the trip to the USA and stay out there for the duration of the treatment.

The former Greenhill School pupil had aspirations of joining the Royal Navy to become a Navy Diver, and whilst he was waiting to complete the final parts of the admissions process, he enrolled onto the Marine Biology course at Swansea University.

In November 2013 Lloyd’s world was turned upside down when he began to suffer from a slight blurring of vision in his left eye. After putting up with it for a short period, he decided to go for an appointment at his local ophthalmic optician, who immediately referred him to the Ophthalmic Department at his local hospital who began to run tests to discover the cause of his sight issues.

By Christmas 2013 Lloyd had lost all vision in his left eye within just a month of first noticing any problem at all. By January 2014 he was given the devastating news that the cause of his sudden blindness was that he was suffering from LHON, and that usually the other eye would be affected within a matter of months.

This proved to be correct, as shortly after diagnosis Lloyd started to lose the sight in his right eye. By August 2014, shortly after celebrating his 21^st birthday he was declared as being legally blind.

The condition has robbed the fun loving, sports mad individual from doing all the things he enjoys and has prevented him from pursuing the career of his dreams. It is hoped that the treatment will restore Lloyd’s vision and help him to pursue his ambitions in life.

Lloyd told The Herald about how the condition has affected his life and how grateful he is to those who have started the fundraising account and also to his family and friends who have helped him through this difficult period in his life

“When I was 20 years old, I lost my sight to a genetic disease called LHON (Lebers Hereditary Optical Neuritis). It took less than 5 months from having 20/20 vision to being registered as blind. Up until then I had lived the life of any normal lad growing up my age, being able to drive, play rugby, scuba dive and travel like anyone else takes for granted.

“The Summer before I lost my sight it worked at a Summer Camp in New York as a wakeboard instructor – something I now can’t do as I don’t think a blind person would be too safe driving boats!

“After I got back from Summer Camp I was in the process of joining the Royal Navy, something I now can’t accomplish.

“Once I was registered blind, there were life choices taken away from me – one of the biggest ones being my ability to drive – something I took for granted until I had to rely on buses, taxis, trains and lifts from other people.

“Later in September 2014 I joined the RNC (Royal National College for the Blind) in Hereford where I studied as a personal trainer in year one and currently doing massage in my second year, where I am still learning how to live with such limited sight.

“Since this all happened, everyday tasks have become daunting and tricky. Something as simple as finding the coffee to make a drink or trying to find something that has been moved by someone else.

“As trivial as it sounds, little things like having to take a picture of what other people are looking at, just to be able to enlarge and zoom in, just to try to see for myself. One of the things I now hate doing is going out for a meal, because even having to have the menu read out and chasing food around the plate becomes embarrassing.“

Regular everyday activities that people do without a second thought have become a chore for Lloyd and he explains that the surgery in America is his only chance to restore normality in his life, and that it is potentially not only himself that will be affected as there is a 50/50 chance of his younger brother also having the condition:

“As a result of the changes and difficulties that I’ve encountered I have been lucky to have such amazingly supportive family and friends that have helped keep my hopes up for future treatment and this opportunity to go to America for the trial is not one that I can afford to miss.

“The gene therapy treatment that is being trialled in the States is the first in the world to potentially cure my condition. “

“It is not just me has been affected by this as my younger brother has the same gene mutation and has a 50/50 chance of going blind too. Other members of my family also have the chance of being affected.

“As a result of this opportunity coming along, I will have to travel to and stay in America with someone coming with me and live there for 3/4 months whilst the trial is being carried out.

“I need to raise funds as quickly as possible is the trial is expected to start in the next few months.”

You can help Lloyd to get to the States and undergo treatment by donating via the ‘Light for Lloyd’ fundraising GOFUND ME page online, by typing the following link into your browser: https://www.gofundme.com/e8pte9xm

Alternatively you can search online for ‘Light for Lloyd’ and follow the links to donate, or go to social media site Facebook and search ‘Light for Lloyd’.