"I am positive and won't let it have a detrimental impact on my life"

A 27-year-old veterinary student has shaved off her hair to raise funds for macular research after being told she would lose her sight to Doyne honeycomb dystrophy.

Raia has raised more than £1,000 after hosting a get together with friends where her head shave took centre stage.

Head shave a "symbolic" act

Raia said: “Some people might find it a bit extreme but for me it’s symbolic because we worry so much about hair and how we look. So, when you’re faced with losing our sight, you realise these things don’t really matter. I definitely think everybody should fundraise, even if a head shave isn’t for them, it’s about whatever they can do in their own individual way.”

Thanking people who donated, she said: “I’m so grateful to every single person who donated. Money’s tight but it’s lovely to know so many people love me enough to support and give their hard-earned money. Knowing so many people are rooting for me, that’s reassuring and makes the hard news easier to deal with.”

Inheriting the Doyne honeycomb dystrophy gene

Raia was aware of the risks of inheriting the condition as her mum, aunt and grandad all it. 

She explained: “When my mum was diagnosed we didn’t know as much as we do about it now. And having seen her go through it since I was a child, that’s helped me come to terms with it for myself. She’s been so pragmatic, she still works, she still lives a full life even though she is blind in one eye. As much as there is some worry about it, I am positive that I will go on without letting it have a detrimental impact on my life.”

Raia's hope for a future cure

While some forms of macular disease can be treated through eye injections, there is nothing yet available for Doyne honeycomb dystrophy.

Raia is keen to see more money put into research, in the hope of finding a treatment or a cure.

She said: “There are aspects of life that are going to be made harder by losing sight and not everyone is going would deal with it so well. My grandad was quite depressed when he was diagnosed, and I wouldn’t want others to go through that. A cure would give people their lives back and stop people from having to go through those emotions.

“As a student vet, I’m very interested in surgery and it’s scary that maybe I won’t be able to do that but at the same time, there are medical advances all the time, and who knows if there will be a cure or eye transplants in 10, 15 years down the line. I’m being positive and trying not to worry about it too much.”

Donations to Raia’s fundraising efforts are still open on her JustGiving page.