Briony is a mother of five children and also a primary school teacher. Her youngest child, Freddie, was diagnosed with aniridia which affects the development of the iris and anterior segment dysgenesis at just two weeks of age.
Briony together with 23 of their friends and family have created a 100K Your Way team called “Freddie’s Force” which has so far raised more than $5,500 to help people like Freddie, who are blind or have low vision, stay independently mobile.
Freddie and his family hail from Dubbo in New South Wales and lead a very busy family life.
Briony and her husband Mitchell together run a painting company.
Mitchel travels a lot for work and Briony is on maternity leave from her job as a primary school teacher while also looking after the kids.
Freddie’s eyes will flicker sometimes, and the specialists are waiting for his eyesight to develop further to assess how much his vision is affected.
Freddie will also need to have his kidneys tested every three months for tumours as aniridia can be closely linked with developing Wilms tumour.
Briony and her family are taking part in 100K Your Way to improve their mental health and have found it a fun way to be active as a family.
“Just being able to do something for you and having that break for your mental health makes you feel better overall,” Briony said.
“I walk a lot with the kids around town and get them involved with their bikes, and then at the end of the month we are going to invite anyone in the team who can come for a walk and host a barbeque afterwards. We have friends and family registered in our team Freddie’s Force all over Australia.”
If you would like to support Briony with her 100K Your Way challenge, you can donate here.