Supporter stories

Our community support us in many different ways, from completing surveys, volunteering, raising awareness and fundraising.

This is a small selection of supporter stories. If you have a story to tell, we would love to hear from you. Please email info@RetinaUK.org.uk and we'll get in touch to capture your tale.

Our community

An Asian woman looking at the camera. She is wearing a yellow shirt and her hair is falling over her left shoulder

Meet our community: Bhavini Makwana

Bhavini was diagnosed with RP in 1997 aged 17. The consultant who confirmed her diagnosis told her that “there was no cure or treatment and she should prepare to go blind".

James Clarke

Meet our community: James Clarke

Aged 20, James was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa at a routine eye appointment in September 2015 and registered partially sighted, just prior to buying his first car and taking his driving test.

Mark Baxter

Meet our community: Mark Baxter

My name is Mark Baxter and from an early age I was diagnosed with a deteriorating retinal eye condition called retinitis pigmentosa or RP for short, which will slowly lead to blindness.

Rachel Foley

Meet our community: Rachael Foley

Rachael first noticed she had sight problems at the age of 15. She went to her local eye clinic, who said she had an astigmatism.

A woman with long fair hair wearing a Retina UK tshirt

Meet our volunteers: Cindy Peacock

“Being part of something and feeling that you are not alone,” are just two of the positive benefits Cindy Peacock says she experiences as a volunteer with Retina UK.

Daniel Summers

Meet our volunteers: Daniel Summers

Dan found out he had retinitis pigmentosa in February 2022, but he feels it has been “on cards for years”. He said he had “an inkling something was up but never did anything about it: a typical guy I guess!”

Dr Katerina Tavoulari

Meet our volunteers: Dr Katerina Tavoulari

Katerina joined the Retina UK team at the start of 2023 after hearing about the charity through her involvement in a research project at the University of Bath, where she works as an academic.

Joe Rizzo-Naudi

Meet our volunteers: Joe Rizzo-Naudi

Our amazing volunteers are diverse in age, background and ethnicity. The one thing they have in common is that they are all living with, or directly affected by, an inherited sight loss condition.

Steve Goulden on the left of the image and Khadeja Ali on the right

Meet our volunteers: Steve and Khadeja

Steve has been volunteering for Retina UK since its formation in 1976 and has been a part of the Helpline team since the early 1980s.. He remembers very well a caller named Khadeja, who called the Helpline multiple times, following her diagnosis with RP in 1999.