Ahead of Macular Degeneration Awareness Week, which starts on Saturday, 20th September, Hannah Gray finds out more about the condition.

WHEN Alan MacFarlane went for a job with one of Peterborough's biggest companies, he got the career he wanted, but he also got the news he was facing a lifetime of deteriorating eyesight.

After going for an interview at Perkins in 1979, Alan was sent for a medical, and from there to the opticians and then a consultant, where he was diagnosed with macular degeneration.

He was just 29.

A few years later his condition was given a name – Best's macular degeneration – a condition he got from his father, who in turn had got it from his mother.

Alan (58), from Stamford, did get the job at Perkins, and went on to work there for 25 years designing engines.

But three years ago he decided to take early retirement because of his condition.

"I got to the stage where I wasn't doing the job to my satisfaction and seeing as I could afford to retire, I went for early retirement and I don't regret that," he said.

Today he has no centre vision at all, and uses a technique called eccentric reading – using his peripheral vision – to read books and newspapers.

Before giving up work, Alan said the first significant change for him came in 1983, when, aged 33, he had to give up driving.

Alan said: "That is the biggy, especially for a young chap. Giving up driving is one of the biggest impacts on your life. Can you still keep getting to work? And then there's the social side of it.

"It's awful having to give up driving, especially if you're like me, I'd been driving for 15 years."

A year after he retired, Alan decided to become involved with the Macular Disease Society (MDS). He now runs a group for older sufferers and one for people of working age. He is also a volunteer administrator for the MDS website.

Alan admits his condition was hard to deal with to start off with, but says his attitude has changed over time.

"It did bother me as a young person; you've got a mortgage to pay, you've got a job to hang on to – as an engineer I might not be able to use a drawing board. It was stressful and very, very worrying," he said.

"You ask me that question today and I'm retired, and I'm alright. There's no mortgage to pay any more. I get the allowance that blind people get to supplement my pension, so you have to accept these things and get on with it. You can't be grumbling.

"When people are diagnosed, it's a lot like a bereavement, you get depressed, you get angry, you go into denial. But now, umpteen years later, I'm fine with it.

"Somebody said 'supposing treatments become available next week, would you go for it at your age?'

And I thought maybe I wouldn't, I don't want to start driving again, I'm happy with my lot."

Next pages: Case studies, What is macular degeneration? and more information.