The terrifying feeling of losing - even just temporarily - sight in one eye inspired Gateshead' s Debbie Martin to take on the epic Great North Swim challenge to help raise awareness of Usher syndrome.
Debbie grew up and has been a lifelong friend of campaigner Jo Milne - who founded the charity Cure Usher and is a powerful advocate for those affected by the rare condition. Usher is the leading cause of progressive sight and hearing loss. After being born with Usher, Jo became profoundly deaf by the time she was 18 months old. The condition also causes eyesight to deteriorate, and Jo was registered as visually impaired at 30.
Debbie had long been inspired by her friend and after her own sight issues last autumn - she suffered a detached retina which left her blind in one eye, though this has been resolved - she wanted to do more to help the charity. This led to her taking part in the Great North Swim event on Lake Windermere on June 12.
