Fight for Sight Lifeline


Fight for Sight

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Transcript


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I've always had an eye for beauty.

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When you look through a lens you see things rather more clearly.

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It's a wonderful feeling.

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You do feel part of what you are seeing.

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As a photographer, light is vital in my life.

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But Belinda Wilkinson is going blind.

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It's a terrifying prospect I know about.

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My mother spent her last precious years completely blind and in fear.

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I witnessed her confidence and independence slipping away from her.

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And now I feel the same dread she must have felt, having

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had two emergency operations to prevent my own sight deteriorating.

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1.8 million people in this country suffer from failing sight,

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and that's a huge number.

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But over the next few minutes, I'm going

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to show what you can do to help to turn the tide.

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Like my mother, Belinda is losing her sight due to a condition

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called age-related macular degeneration, or AMD,

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the leading cause of sight loss for the over-60s.

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For years Belinda was a portrait photographer,

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but the symptoms of AMD made it impossible to continue.

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Of course, the expression of the person you are photographing

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is vital to a good photograph.

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With AMD, one of the really bad bits is the fact that you don't

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see faces very clearly.

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It's pretty unpleasant,

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because all your central vision will eventually go.

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One of the versions of the disease Belinda has is called dry AMD,

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for which there is no cure.

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I notice a deterioration, which is quite rapid, which is fairly

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frightening, because it is robbing me of my independence, which is

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very important in my life. So I try not to think about the future.

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You know, I'm a realist and I do know it's a one-way ticket.

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AMD is just one of many conditions that can lead to sight loss.

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But I hope that in the future,

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people like Belinda or my mum won't have to worry about going blind.

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But that'll only happen

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if we can understand the root causes of this all-too-common affliction.

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Thankfully, there is a charity

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that's turning this hope into a reality.

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Fight for Sight is funding research in laboratories like

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this one at UCL in London, where scientists are dedicated to finding

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new and more effective treatments for the causes of sight loss.

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Professor Steve Moss

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is one of the world's leading researchers into AMD.

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He's spent his career

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trying to understand the causes of the disease.

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This is a really exciting time to be doing research in this area

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because we now really have the prospect of understanding

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what's happening at the cellular level.

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What we're trying to prevent is the attack

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from our own proteins in our own system

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that's taking place in the retina on the cells at the back of the eye.

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Now they know the cause of AMD,

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it's vital that research can move to the next stage,

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to discover the drugs that could cure someone like Belinda.

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But research costs an awful lot of money.

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Over the years here at UCL, we have received

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millions of pounds of funding from Fight for Sight.

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And without Fight for Sight's input, research into AMD

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and other forms of eye disease would suffer enormously in the UK.

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Fight for Sight is the main UK charity dedicated to

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raising funds for pioneering medical sight-loss research.

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And with around 100 people across the UK starting to lose

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their sight every day, there's never been a better time for you to help.

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Eye disease and sight loss can affect any of us

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at any stage of life.

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One person who knows this better than most is 14-year-old Tommy.

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He has a hereditary eye disease called choroideremia,

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which leads inevitably to complete blindness,

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and for which currently there is no cure.

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For Tommy's mum Emma,

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blindness is a shadow that has hung over the family for generations.

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My grandad was blind -

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he had choroideremia.

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There was parts of being a grandad

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when you can't see your grandchildren or be able to

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play with them in the park. You know, it was quite sad.

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When he was four, Tommy was diagnosed.

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I felt a real sense of grief for Tommy,

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that his life would be different.

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Knowing my grandad, I didn't want that life for Tommy.

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We didn't really know what to do or... Sorry...

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Um...you know...

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We were just sort of lost for a bit.

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Choroideremia only affects boys.

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Tommy has begun to lose his peripheral vision

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and over time, the disease will close in on the central

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area of his retina, eventually destroying it.

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My eyesight will kind of degenerate and kind of get worse

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as I get older and eventually I'll go blind.

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It became quite apparent that at the moment

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there was nothing that could be done, there was no treatment.

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That was really, you know, really tough for us.

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But Tommy and his family weren't about to give up.

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Emma got in touch with Fight for Sight, who inspired them

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to raise a massive amount of money to fund a research project

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to find a cure for choroideremia.

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Medical research is the only thing that will change Tommy's life

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and give him the life that we all want him to have.

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The money Emma raised for Fight for Sight helped take the research

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out of the lab and on to patients,

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in a clinical trial being run by Professor Robert MacLaren.

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We know in choroideremia that there is a vital gene that is part of

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the DNA which is missing and we have been able to harness the power of

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the virus to infect cells to put the missing gene back into the cells.

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Now, the results in the lab have been very promising and very exciting

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and that's enabled us now to move us on to a clinical trial.

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The first stage of the trial on patients

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is producing startling results.

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And if the next stage is successful too,

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then doctors will be able to offer a cure to Tommy in a few years,

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saving him and many other children from going blind.

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And the gene therapy technique the team have perfected

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could revolutionise the treatment of other diseases, too.

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This is a very exciting time indeed -

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there are many other genetic diseases that could be treated

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through very similar clinical trials, and I think the only limiting factor

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at the moment is the amount

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of funding we can raise to get them started.

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Each vital stage of research costs a lot of money.

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But for families living with inherited sight-loss conditions,

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medical breakthroughs offer the only real hope.

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And that's why I'm appealing for your help,

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on behalf of Fight for Sight.

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You can help people when they have a problem, but it doesn't cure them.

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Research is the only way forward.

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'Fight for Sight are just an amazing charity and without them

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'medical research would not be where it is today.

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'Tommy's prospects now for the future are looking much, much brighter.'

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For it actually to come to the day when Tommy's having it done,

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it will be the best day ever. I just can't wait.

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Fight for Sight is currently funding over 100 cutting-edge

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research projects for age-related and hereditary eye conditions

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that could save the vision of people like Tommy and Belinda.

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And you can help make sure that they succeed.

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So please dig deep and donate now.

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Please go to the website...

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If you haven't got internet access,

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please call...

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If you can't get through

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the first time, please keep trying.

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Telephone calls are free

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from most landlines.

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Some networks and mobile operators

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will charge for these calls.

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Texts cost £10 plus your standard

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network message charge,

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and the whole £10

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goes to Fight for Sight.

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Full terms and conditions

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can be found at bbc.co.uk/lifeline

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Or if you'd like to post a donation,

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please make your cheque payable

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to Fight for Sight and send it to

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Freepost BBC Lifeline Appeal,

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writing "Fight for Sight"

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on the back of the envelope.

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And if you want the charity

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to claim Gift Aid on your donation,

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please include an e-mail

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or postal address so that they can

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send you a Gift Aid form.

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Thank you.

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