Kibworth football team show support for young player with eye condition by emblazoning shirts with charity logo

A football team is raising awareness of a rare eye condition suffered by one of their players, by emblazoning the team shirts with an eye charity’s logo.

Lucas Bedford plays for Kibworth Town Under 7s, with players proudly wearing shirts advertising national eye charity MACS – which supports children born without eyes or with underdeveloped eyes.

The Fleckney Primary School pupil has an eye condition he was diagnosed with at birth called Coloboma, which affects the iris and causes the pupil to have an abnormal shape. It can cause sight problems and affects one in 10,000 babies.

Mum Alison said: “Obviously as parents finding out that your child has an eye condition is extremely worrying so we researched Lucas’ condition as much as we could which is where we came across the wonderful MACS eye charity who support children born without eyes or with underdeveloped eyes.

“This brilliant charity does so much for adults and children with Microphthalmia – also known as small eye, the lack of an eye or Coloboma.

“This year, 90 families in the UK will be told their babies have no eyes, small eyes, or a cleft in the eye. Many of them will have additional needs or other health challenges. Some will be told there’s no hope that their child will ever see. They may feel hopeless and alone - but they are not alone and there is hope.”

Extensive tests revealed Lucas’ vision is not too badly affected, but the youngster’s football team wanted to show support and raise awareness by putting the MACS logo front and centre of their shirts.

Alison added: “Lucas is extremely sensitive to the light and has to wear sunglasses a lot of the time but he an extremely happy boy and is living life to the full.

“He takes part in lots of sports such as football, karate and swimming and is doing extremely well at school. We thought it would be lovely to help raise awareness for MACS by having their logo on the front of the shirts for the football team that he plays in.”

Click here to find out more about the charity.