Christmas wishes

"Without research, we'd lose the hope."

So says Elizabeth Maxwell, 79. Elizabeth lost her sight in her late thirties when she was the mother of two young children.

"I had two children. Anthony being four. Two years later, I had James. But I have never seen James. In those two years, the last bit of sight had gone," said Elizabeth.

The condition that robbed Elizabeth of her vision began in childhood. Elizabeth had Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA). She spent much of her childhood at the world-renowned Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), where she would "regularly go to have whatever ghastly treatment was needed to keep my muscles strong."

The arthritis led to inflammation of the eye or uveitis. Further complications led to cataracts and Elizabeth's vision loss. 

Elizabeth's story

Preventing vision loss in children

Complications of a childhood condition robbed Elizabeth of her vision. 

Elizabeth developed Uveitis, an eye disease related to Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis, for which she received treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH).

Today, we're funding Dr Lola Solebo, a scientist and paediatric ophthalmic surgeon at GOSH who aims to tackle complications such as those experienced by Elizabeth as a child.

Late detection of uveitis causes vision loss. So, children with JIA should be screened every three months for uveitis using a slit lamp examination.

However, the test requires a specially trained ophthalmic clinician, but they are in short supply: 73% of advertised paediatric ophthalmologist posts across the UK are unfilled. So, those at risk of childhood uveitis may not have cases detected, diagnosed, and then treated until irreversible damage has occurred.

Dr Lola Solebo, funded by Fight for Sight, is currently conducting a study comparing slit lamp examinations and new imaging-based methods in the detection of uveitis in children.

Using artificial intelligence to assess children at risk

The research team will analyse images using artificial intelligence (AI) to determine signs of inflammation. Dr Solebo hopes this study will lead to effective imaging-based surveillance for children at risk of uveitis, which more clinicians can operate on. 

If successful, it could alleviate current shortages of specialists who deliver eye examinations, reducing late diagnoses and the number of children at risk of sight loss from uveitis.