pc rathband in hospitalWhat happens when you suddenly lose your eyesight?
It's a question you hope you'll never have to answer, but you never know what life can throw at you as PC David Rathband found out in 2010. You may remember the shocking image of the heroic police officer shot at point-blank range by crazed killer Raoul Moat. As Moat took his own life in a Northumbrian field, PC Rathband was lying in a hospital bed coming to terms with the fact that he was blind. Yet despite this devastating news, PC Rathband approached his fate with great bravery, courage and dignity.
Since that tragic day, his determination to overcome his disability has been a real inspiration. Here he explains how he has come to terms with being blind: 'The surgeons tried a few things whilst they were operating but, unfortunately, the retina was the damning piece. 'It was beyond repair and there was nothing they could do with it so I am now left with blindness. I was devastated.'
Missing important family moments
From that moment he begun to realise he would miss seeing important moments in his family's future. Sentimental things, like his daughter's wedding, seeing her in her wedding dress, and giving her away. As well as those pivotal family moments, it's also the everyday things that PC Rathband misses: 'It's all the silly things...the fact that I couldn't make a cup of tea without being taught how to, I wouldn't be able to find my toothbrush or put the socks on the right way.'
pc rathband with his family'I'm proud to be a policeman and I'm determined to go back to work'
PC Rathband remains determined to continue to work in some capacity in the near future. He said: 'I can't believe how proud I am to be a policeman, and as I said after I was shot, I will go back as a policeman and walk back into the police station that I left on that fateful Saturday evening. 'I will go back in uniform and I will walk through the front doors of the police station when I return as proud as punch, with or without my guide dog or a white stick, and I will walk back to where I left on the fourth of July.' With the bravery he has already shown, and with the support of his loving wife, Kath and his doting children Mia and Ashley, then I'm sure PC Rathband will overcome any hurdles put in his way.
Will you please help people, like PC Rathband, who've also lost their sight?
The kindness of people like you makes it possible for the Greater London Fund for the Blind to help people like PC Rathband cope with losing their sight. Each day the two million people in the UK who have also lost all, or part of their sight, look to the charities we support for advice, encouragement, and information to make living with sight loss just that little bit easier. Although most of the people we help won't lose their sight in such a dramatic way, they still need every kind of support and assistance we can give them to do the everyday things that we can so easily take for granted.
Here are some of things that a donation today could help provide to a person who has recently lost their sight:
- £5 could buy a long cane for someone to find their way round.
- £10 pays the phone bill for a 'phone friend' to contact 6-10 isolated visually impaired people during one week. These buddies provide vital companionship and help overcome loneliness and isolation.
- £15 provides an hour long session with a support worker, who would help people like PC Rathband come to terms with losing their sight.
- A generous gift of £60 would pay for a mobility training session for a newly blind person to learn how to get around on their own. This boosts the person's confidence and independence.
- Alternatively, a donation of £100 would fund a 'home visitor' for a whole year. The companionship, practical help and support these volunteers offer is invaluable and helps someone come to terms with blindness.
*In March 2012 PC Rathband sadly died. We here at the GLFB were very sorry to hear this news, and would like to wish his family and friends all the best for the future.
