A blind veteran from West Sussex is set to walk 57km alongside nine fellow blind veterans to raise money for Blind Veterans UK, the national charity for vision-impaired ex-Service men and women, which has given him his life back.
Stu Rodd, 51 and from Worthing, will be taking part in the South Coast Ultra on 6 September.
He will set off from Eastbourne to walk along the South Downs Way with the rest of the Blind Veterans UK team, all of whom have set themselves their own personal goal to walk 25km, 57km or 100km.
Stu joined the Army in 1992 at the age of 17. He served as a sapper in the Royal Engineers but was discharged due to a medical problem during his first year of service.
His sight loss occurred four years ago due to a brain injury. Stu suffered a respiratory arrest and a delay in being resuscitated meant his brain was starved of oxygen. He spent three years in hospital, initially placed in an induced coma and then receiving rehabilitation.
Stu says:
“I am coming up to my first-year anniversary of being out of hospital. I am lucky to be alive as there was a point where they considered turning off my life support. When I first discovered that my sight loss was not fixable, I had to get my head around it and then I knew I had two choices, not having a life or taking life by the horns and seizing any opportunity that came my way.”
Stu was registered severely sight impaired. He says:
“I can’t see my hand in front of my face but I can tell if something close to me is moving, I just have no idea what it is. What I see is constantly moving and shaking like a snow globe which causes sensory overload and is extremely tiring. At nighttime, I am pretty much black blind.”
Stu began to be supported by Blind Veterans UK in September 2024.
He says:
“The support I’ve had from Blind Veterans UK has been nothing short of phenomenal. I’ve achieved so much; I couldn’t even make myself a coffee back then but now I have been given the opportunity to have my life again and I want to give back to the charity.”
During his short time with the charity, Stu has already embraced many activities as part of his rehabilitation including scuba diving, climbing, abseiling, white water rafting, learning how to cook again, driving a car around Brands Hatch and horse riding.
In June Stu stayed at the charity’s Rustington Centre for a training week ahead of the South Coast Ultra. The aim of the week was to build his fitness and resilience to ready him for the mammoth task ahead and to prepare him for the challenge of walking on a variety of different terrains.
Stu says:
“On my recent training week I managed to walk 30km in one go. It was tough and after three miles, I thought I wasn’t going to make it but five hours later I was still walking. I’m a stubborn man. I will complete the 57km for Blind Veterans UK, as they have done so much for me, even if I have to crawl over the line on my hands and knees.
“Three years is a long time to have been out of the world. My ethos now is to seize every opportunity that comes my way and I’m proud to be walking with my blind veterans.”
Stu hopes to raise awareness of the support offered by Blind Veterans UK and to fundraise so that the charity can support even more blind veterans.
If you would like to make a donation to support Stu with his fundraising for Blind Veterans UK please visit his Just Giving page: justgiving.com/page/sturodd.
Blind Veterans UK supports thousands of blind veterans across the country, but knows there are many thousands more who still need its support to rebuild their lives after sight loss.
If you, or someone you know, served in the Armed Forces, including National Service, and are now struggling with sight loss, then please get in touch. Call 0800 389 7979 or visit blindveterans.org.uk/gethelp
