Equipment for Ophthalmology Ward

          I will be running the Reading Half Marathon this year dressed as Hello Kitty, i do love a challenge and decided to make the difficult half marathon even more difficult and dress up and then thought why not raise some money at the same time. So when i found out about this great cause I thought perfect, a great opprtunity to brighten up the day of residents in Reading as they see me run past and raise some money at the same time. I have also added a little bit about Leo so please take the time to read and donate...... Thanks Again Matthew    Leo was born with a unilateral congenital dense cataract.   We found out just a few hours after he was born and as you can imagine we were very frightened and upset to hear that if he did not have an operation, by the time he was 3 months old, he would be blind in that eye. Having a newborn baby can be stressful enough, without finding out your baby has a condition which will mean he needs an operation so early on in his life. So we really did feel helpless. Soon after diagnosis we were referred to an Othamologist who totally took us under his wing and explained everything to us in a way that we could understand the procedure that was required, what Leo would go through and what we were to expect. Even though it was still frightening, we felt assured we were doing the right thing and Leo would be in safe hands. 1 year on, Leo has undergone two successful operations on his eye, so far. And even though his condition is ongoing, his Othamologist is amazing and looks after Leo so well. He really cares about Leo, which is what every parent wants to see, when their precious child is having to go through this. Despite seeing 20+ patients a day, you never feel like your child is just a ‘number’. We are eternally grateful that he has given Leo this chance at having site in that eye and we want to thank him and give something back. We would like to help him, help others, in our situation and other poor children that have other eye conditions also. I have decided to try to raise money for much need equipment for the hospital. At present they are looking to develop a camera that can record the types of operations that Leo had , so they can present them to students/other consultants to teach them the much needed skills required for this type of surgery. Also they want to develop a camera that can capture an image of a childs eye ball, as at present this is only restricted to adults. Both would help with their research into Leo’s and other types of eye conditions, which could help them to develop new treatments especially for children.