Berkshire Vision member Andy, takes on challenge to cycle the distance of Lands End to John O’ Groats on exercise bike.
Reading based Andy Smith was diagnosed with severe visual impairment during early 2020 due to complications with diabetes. He woke up one morning and was struggling to see in both eyes. A trip to eye casualty diagnosed a detached retina in one eye and damage in the other eye. The prognosis was “We’ll be lucky to save any sight.”
He spent most of lockdown at home depressed, confused and scared having lost his confidence and independence.
He said “People ask me what’s it like, how do you cope? Well honestly, on your own you don’t. Having a visual impairment regardless of it’s severity takes away independence, confidence, self esteem and hope.”
Andy was referred to Berkshire Vision, a local sight loss charity, who were able to support him and he now is a regular at their virtual quizzes, attends in person pub quizzes and supported their Take on 250 cycling challenge in the Oracle earlier in the year.
Spurred on by this challenge, Andy decided the take on his own challenge to give back to Berkshire Vision.
“I never realised how reliant charities are on donations, so always being a keen cyclist and having bought an indoor trainer during one of the lockdowns, I thought I could do a charity ride and why not the distance of Lands End to John O’Groats. Berkshire Vision helped to restore my confidence and self esteem so let’s see how much WE can raise so Berkshire Vision can provide even more support to the visually impaired and help a significant number of people not just survive but Thrive!”
For his challenge, Andy will be cycling the distance (874 miles) from Lands End to John O’Groats. He will start on 8th May and hopes to complete the distance over 10 – 12 consecutive days. He’ll be cycling on his exercise bike at home, using a cycling app that uses real-time routes and will also do some miles on the bike at Buzz Gym on Kings Road, Reading.
If you’d like to sponsor Andy please visit – https://www.justgiving.com/page/andysmithbv
