Masquerade ball to raise funds and awareness of macular disease

A Macular Society member has organised a masquerade ball to help raise funds for the Society and awareness of macular disease. 

Nicola Spearman, 31, who is a teacher in Essex, was diagnosed with Stargardt's disease in January 2015. 

Nicola was so grateful for the support she received from the Society that she was keen to give something back. She said: "That is the main reason behind this, I wanted to give something back.

“There is no cure to this and it will eventually lead to me losing my central vision. I was told about the Macular Society and received some great support and counselling from them which was very useful.

“They got me through some very difficult times.”

Last year Nicola started fundraising for the Society and took part in the London 10k, raising more than £2,500. However, she wanted to continue raising as much as she can to help raise funds for research into macular disease. 

She said: "Part of my motivation for raising more money is that there have been real successes in research into treatments for some macular conditions.

“Therefore I want to raise money so that the Macular Society can continue to contribute towards research into conditions so that hopefully one day there may be a cure or treatment for mine.”

The ball, which will be held at in Chelmsford, Essex, has been sponsored by a number of businesses, including local companies such as Creative Plus and The Oncrowd.