Dundalk man Eric has raised over €135k for Fighting Blindness

To date, Dundalk man Eric Beggs - a long standing supporter and champion of Fighting Blindness - and friends, have raise an incredible €136,089 through the annual Cooley Mountain Trek and other community events.

This has helped pave the way for future treatments and cures for blindness.

Last week, Fighting Blindness ambassadors Victoria Smurfit and her daughter Evie joined forces with Eric and the organisation - who are grateful for the support.

Evie is living with the condition Stargardt disease, which leads to reduced central vision. As yet, there is no treatment or cure.
As it is a rare condition, Evie had to really fight to get a diagnosis.

The diagnosis was life-changing for the whole family, but they were determined to try to create something positive from it.
As her mum, Victoria did her best to empower Evie, not to let her condition define her.

Victoria said, “In March of 2017 I was fighting with the local optician, as despite endless trips to them and the highest tech glasses, Evie still couldn’t see the board at school.

"How could she possibly have the correct prescription? After insisting, the optician agreed to have photos taken of the back of Evie’s eyes. It was a Friday at 5pm when the call came in from the optician saying that Evie had to go to a specialist. 

“When she said macular dystrophy, it meant nothing. The last thing she said to me on the phone was ‘don’t Google it’, so of course I did. It said that there was no cure and that it would lead to central blindness.

"I sat on my bedroom floor and hyperventilated as quietly as I could so the kids couldn’t hear me downstairs. I booked us all in for the Monday to find out. It was a long weekend.

"At this point nothing was said to Evie. I will never forget the look on the consultant’s face as he scanned Evie’s eye pictures. It was an imperceptible shift that changed everything.”

The diagnosis was life-changing for the whole family, but they were determined to try to create something positive from it. As her mum, Victoria did her best to empower Evie, not to let her condition define her.

For Evie, and thousands of children like her living with sight loss, there is hope for the future. Thanks to the kindness of supporters like Eric and the Dundalk community, Fighting Blindness can fund cutting edge research to develop treatments and cures for sight loss conditions, including Stargardt disease.