David Coyle has had diabetes for decades, but in 2011 he was told that his condition could lead to him going blind.
The Consett based architectural technician - who works for Durham County Council - was terrified of losing his sight, and his livelihood. He was given laser treatment, but after a number of months this caused his eyes to become sensitive and painful, and he lost much of his peripheral vision.
David, 48, has diabetic retinopathy - a condition which sees high blood sugar cause damage and bleeding to vital parts of the retina in the back of someone's eye. In David's case, though his diabetes had been reasonably well controlled - it was simply a consequence of having been diabetic for decades, he was told.
