Extreme Dreams has been a vision of mine for some time now. There are so many exciting activities going on out there that people are unaware of. Some people believe that because of their personal circumstances, that these sports are out of reach. I want to prove that a lot of the time this is not the case. If you really want to do it, often the only thing holding you back is you!
I was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1969. At this point of my life, my vision was strong and no problems were foreseen. At the age of 6 the family moved to a small village near Glasgow.
Here I climbed trees, chased the girls and did all the normal things expected of a young lad. We then moved to Newcastle, and at the age of 9 my eyesight suddenly dropped. From this stage on I was registered as partially sighted. There was no reason for this overnight deterioration. It just happened. And for the next 15 years the doctors and consultants came up with different names and prognoses.
My level of vision remained the same for 18 years. In 1996, my sight took a major downturn, and had dropped so suddenly and steeply, that I was now advised to start learning Braille and get myself a guide dog. From then on I was registered as blind. The prognosis was that any sight that I had at that time would be gone within a year. My condition was diagnosed as Rod & Cone Dystrophy. It is a rare condition, and not a lot is known about it. Therefore, a clear future could not be diagnosed. The only thing known for certain is that it will continue to get worse. From this point on my life was set to change. I had two choices. I sit at home and moan a lot, or I get out there and do something. Guess which I chose?
BLIND & DANGEROUS
From now on I wanted to try as many different and exciting sports as possible. These sports have ranged from snowboarding to bungee and from the Royal Marine Assault Course to white water sledging. In all of these sports, the organisers or instructors have been informed of my disability, and I am lucky enough to have still been accepted to try their sports. I would like to take this opportunity to thank these open minded and innovative people. These people have risen to the challenge and adapted, where necessary, their sports to enable me to take part. There have been other sports and organisations I have approached who have turned me away as soon as I mention the word "blind". I understand their concern, but these people have a lot to learn from those who have taken me on
The rest of the web site contains pictures of my friends and I taking part in these sports and the contact names and addresses of some of those who were willing to help me The site was started in April, 2002. 12 months later, Extreme Dreams was getting over 12,000 visitors a month! This figure has now grown to around 20,000 hits a month!! Thank you to you all for that
In November, 2002, Rhona and I moved back to Scotland. We now live in Blairgowrie and take full advantage of the surrounding countryside, with a bit of canyoning, cliff jumping, canoeing, etc.
In the Summer of 2004, we launched the Extreme Dreams Online Shop, selling footbags (aka hacky sacks), air toys and DVDs. This is proving to be a great success, and I am always looking for new items to add to our range.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Rhona, my fantastic wife, for all her support and encouragement.
Without this, I am sure that I would never have been able to accomplish half of what I have
| 
