‘The bond between us is indescribable’: Paralympic swimmer Sophie Soon on her relationship with her guide dog

I was born with an eye condition called cone rod dystrophy, a disorder that leads to the loss of cone cells in the retina. Cone cells are responsible for central and colour vision, which means I’m unable to see objects directly in front of me and I’m completely colour blind.

When I was born, my mum noticed that I had an issue with eye tracking. My parents also noticed that I wouldn’t react to things until they were brought a lot closer to me. 

A big defining moment happened when I was about two years old, sitting in the front seat of the car, next to my dad. I remember we had parked the car as my mum rushed out to run some errands. My dad pointed to a cartoon on a van passing by, and I started screaming as I couldn’t see it.

And when he called out to my mum when he saw her, I screamed even more as I couldn’t see her, asking him where she was. 

That’s when my parents realised something was not so right.

When I started learning to read and write in nursery, I would put my face very close to the paper, and my teachers would pull me back. They told me I was too close.

We went for my first eye-doctor appointment when I was five, and that’s when we were told that I had some sort of macular degeneration condition. The doctor couldn’t say what specific eye condition it was because they had to see the nature of the progression.

I continued seeing the doctor, and about two years later, I was diagnosed with cone rod dystrophy. We learnt that the condition is a progressive one. 

My mum didn’t know how to tell me that I was eventually going to go blind, or that I was going to lose my vision as I got older. I only remember her taking me to McDonald’s and getting me a Happy Meal, and I was happy with that. I wasn’t very bothered with the