Local Reigate Mum, Monica Warren, is pulling on her swimmers and diving head first into a 1.5km swim to raise money to help support local sight and hearing loss charity Sight for Surrey.
Monica & Amy Warren
Monica’s daughter, Amy, aged 5 suffers from a rare condition called CHARGE Syndrome caused by a genetic disorder, affecting only 1 in 10,000. Amy failed several hearing tests as a new born and was referred to a developmental consultant who ordered an MRI on her. Aged just 1 year, Amy was formally diagnosed with CHARGE. This condition involves a long list of disabilities – vision and hearing being the main ones. Sight for Surrey supports people who are blind, vision impaired, Deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing.
Monica said “The children’s division of Sight for Surrey have been absolutely incredible in supporting Amy since she started school. They have trained her to manage daily tasks independently, many that we take for granted, like getting dressed and using a zip and buttons. In addition they have taught her how to safely navigate the classroom and playground at school and make recommendations to her teachers in supporting Amy at school. Sight for Surrey deal with many challenging cases and I admire the continuous care and dedication of staff. They offer private events for children with visual impairment to experience activities which under normal circumstances would never be possible. As a family we are grateful for all they do for Amy and I wish to give something back.”
Monica manages to squeeze in swim training twice a week as Amy’s condition means she is seen by over 20 specialised consultants at different hospitals and this involves a lot of appointments and travelling.
The swim will take place in Horley Leisure Centre at the end of March 2020 as part of Swimathon 2020. To make a donation to Monica’s fundraising efforts please visit: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/monica-warren1
