Blind, Fundraising Golfer Refuses To Be Bunkered

A deaf and blind woman who has raised more than £400,000 for charity after she was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition says she hopes her efforts will help to find a cure.

Debbie White, 60, from Warwick, experienced hearing and sight loss throughout her childhood, however it was not until she was 21, when her younger brother discovered he had Usher Syndrome type II, that she was also diagnosed.

Despite it worsening, Ms White has for more than 30 years raised funds for Fight for Sight, a charity supporting research to treat sight loss.

Recently she has also been aiding a charity that helped her rediscover her love for golf despite her condition, swinging her way to raising thousands more.

Ms White said her diagnosis explained what she experienced during her early life.

“It was a Eureka moment,” she explained. “I realised then why I’d knocked glasses of water over, or couldn’t see in a nightclub, or missed that goal in hockey.

“I could understand why it was all happening, I wasn’t just clumsy, there was a reason for it.”

The 60-year-old added that in the 1980s she had made the decision not to have children as she feared they could have experienced similar struggles, however she stressed that science and research were “far better now”.

“It’s by no means a bad thing to have Ushers and you can live a full life, but at the time there was not the research,” she said.

She hoped that along with her brother, she would be part of the “breakthrough” in new treatments for Usher Syndrome.

Ms White’s latest event, a charity golf day held at Stoneleigh Deer Park Golf Club on Wednesday, raised £14,800.

She said 20% of the proceeds were donated to England and Wales Blind Golf, a charity which helped her rediscover her passion for the sport while her eyesight continued to deteriorate.

“I played golf until 2006, but gave up as I lost my competitive edge. I can see to hit a ball, but I can see it’s flight.

“People would say ‘your ball is over there’ but ‘over there’ doesn’t mean anything to me.”

Ms White said playing golf with the support of charity helped her mental health and enabled her to meet lots of new friends.

The 60-year-old added that she needed to “up her fundraising game” now that she had two charities to support.