The difference you’ll make

“There’s real hope that a treatment can get into clinics within our children’s lifetimes. Without Macular Society funding, we wouldn’t be where we are now.”

Dr Amanda Carr University College London

A gift in your Will would contribute to funding world-class research to find a cure for macular disease. In the past 30 years, we’ve funded over £5 million of research: from researchers at the top of their game to postgraduates – the leading scientists of the future. We couldn’t have done that without gifts in Wills - generously given by people like you. In fact, one in three of our research projects is funded by gifts in Wills.

Your gift can bring a cure closer

Professor Luminita Paraoan at the University of Liverpool conducts vital molecular research, looking deep inside the eye to see what happens as macular disease develops. Macular Society funding enabled her to study a protein thought to play a vital role in the normal functioning of the eye; people with a variant of the same protein have an increased risk of developing age-related macular degeneration.

“Now we can break cells into their component parts and examine what goes on at a minute level, progress is definitely being accelerated. We’re really starting to reap the benefit of our new knowledge of how, deep within the eye’s cells, changes happen that can lead to macular disease.”

“Every discovery we make means we understand macular disease that little bit better. As scientists we have a buzz - an optimism - that we can stop it happening.”

Professor Paraoan, University of Liverpool

Your gift can bring hope when it’s needed most

“My mother had AMD. My sister has it too - and my cousin. It’s been in my family for generations. My gift is a thank you for the support Mum got and also for research. I’m optimistic that progress is being made”

Doreen Macular Society member

More than half the people who contact us for advice and support owe their thanks to someone - like Doreen - remembering the Society in their Will.

Whether struggling with a new diagnosis, bewildered by their treatment, or wanting to know how to carry on doing the things they love, we are here to offer expert advice and support. We refer some callers to our professional counsellors, others to our local support groups. We provide reliable, up-to-the-minute information. And we’re there for younger people with macular disease, juggling study, work, family and benefits. Macular disease affects everyone differently. But a gift in your Will can ensure we’re there to help everyone find their way, long into the future.