24 January 2024 , 11:16
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Former Liverpool and England striker Michael Owen would 'swap eyes' with his son James, if it was possible to help the teenager see again.
The 17-year-old was diagnosed with Stargardt disease aged just eight years old and as a result has difficulties with his vision. James struggles to see different colours and lights due to blurred central vision but still has good peripheral sight.
Stargadt disease is an inherited eye condition that impacts the central part of the retina known as the macula. The NHS states that the condition impacts one in 8,000 to 10,000 people.
The father and son duo have been promoting the release of their first documentary - Football is for Everyone. In that they explore James's sight loss and follow the visually impaired England futsal squad on their World Cup journey.
Speaking on the BBC Access All podcast, Michael said: "If I could give him my eyes and we could do a swap, I would. I would pay every cent I've got to make James see again."
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The former footballer, who now invests his time in horseracing, says he still prays every night that a cure will be found. The 44-year-old admits it has been tough to watch his son go through such difficulties. James is recognised as clinically blind and has seen regular hospital trips and treatments.
Speaking on GMB Michael said: "I suppose as a parent, myself and my wife probably felt far worse than James, which sounds really bad.
(ITV)"You want to take all the pain away from him, you feel sorry for him every time he goes to hospital and gets new drops that make his eyes sting and he’s crying all day. But James was born that way, James doesn’t know any different. I think it was quite hard for us when we found out that this was an incurable disease at the moment.
"We live in an age with stem cells [and] we go to bed every night praying something will be there to cure him, but at the moment, it’s a condition that regresses over time. That’s obviously horrible, but I’ve never sung it off the rooftops. We get on in life."