Courage of twins robbed of their sight in a year

Michael and Dan Smith, 20, are still determined to finish university and get good jobs after being left almost totally blind by Leber’s Optic Neuropathy.

Michael, who is in football training for this year’s Paralympic Games, lost his sight in a matter of weeks while in his first year at Bart’s and the London School of Medicine.

Less than a year later, his brother Dan suffered the same fate while in his second year studying aeronautical engineering at the University of Bristol.

The identical pair, who can only make out shadowy shapes, have been forced to adapt their lives, learning Braille and re-learning how to cook and choose clothes.

They also plan to embark on a 570km tandem bike ride from London to Amsterdam in April.

Michael first noted changes to his vision in November 2009, forcing him into the “crushing” realisation he could not continue his degree in medicine.

A genetic test eventually revealed Michael was suffering from the rare genetic condition.

“It was the end of life as I knew it,” he said. “I could not carry on at medical school and that was incredibly distressing. In fact, it was crushing.”

Dan also “could not comprehend what was happening” when he heard Michael’s news.

“It was the cruellest of timing because it was my brother’s first term at medical school and he had his whole life ahead of him.”

But further terrible news was still to come. Because the pair are identical twins, Dan was told he had a 60 to 70 per cent chance of also going blind.

In Easter 2010, Dan began to lose sight in his left eye and within three weeks there was also “full scale deterioration” in his right eye.

Michael said: “Once I was diagnosed, the one thing I wanted in life was for this not to happen to my brother too.”

Although Leber’s Optic Neuropathy is a hereditary condition, the brothers have been unable to find any family history going back four generations.

The twins, from Barnet, north London, can now make out shadows but use white canes to help them move around.

Nevertheless, they are determined to live life to the full. Michael is now studying geography at King’s College London and wants to be a disability lawyer when he graduates.

Dan is still studying aeronautical engineering and aims to go into investment banking.

The Arsenal fans will undertake the London-Amsterdam tandem bike ride on April 6 to raise awareness of their condition.

They hope to raise over £3,000 for Blind in Business, a charity which helps blind and partially sighted people into work. They can be sponsored via www.justgiving.com/sevenmenfivebikes.