This Morning viewers were emotional after hearing the teenager’s story.
Audrey and her mum Tracey appeared on This Morning (Image: ITV)
A This Morning guest was left fighting back tears as her teenage daughter shared her bucket list of sights she wanted to see before losing her vision.
Audrey, 13, was joined by her mum Tracey on the ITV daytime programme today, speaking to hosts Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley.
The teenager explained she was diagnosed with Usher syndrome three years ago at the age of 10, a rare inherited condition which causes hearing loss, sight loss and balance problems.
Usher syndrome affects between four and 17 people in 100,000 worldwide, and causes sight loss through a condition called retinitis pigmentosa, making it hard to see at night or in the dark, and causing the loss of peripheral vision.
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Speaking about her condition, Audrey revealed on This Morning that she has a bucket list of things she wants to see before losing her vision entirely, including seeing the Statue of Liberty and the Northern Lights.
So far, she’s already ticked off visiting Stonehenge, going to Coldplay and Taylor Swift concerts, a trip to Legoland, and seeing the Eiffel Tower.
She explained: “It means that eventually, at a glacially slow rate, I’ll lose my sight.
“I found out, basically I started thinking that when I was in the dark I couldn’t see as much as normal people could, and my parents picked up on it, and they took me to Great Ormond Street to get it tested and then I found out I had it.”
This Morning viewers were in tears watching the interview (Image: ITV)
Speaking of her hearing loss, having worn hearing aids since she was six weeks old, she continued: “I don’t think it affects me that much because when I wear my hearing aids I forget that I have them in and I feel like a very normal person, the same with my glasses, to be honest.”
Her mum Tracey added: “Usher Syndrome is a rare, genetic condition and it affects your hearing, sight and in some cases, your balance – Audrey has Usher’s type two, so she was born with the hearing loss which was picked up at the newborn hearing screening test when she was two weeks old, she failed that and then went on to have an audiology appointment at four weeks old and she was diagnosed with a bilateral sensory neural hearing loss, she was given hearing aids at six weeks old.
“We just thought, although that was devastating, that was it – but then Audrey had some genetic testing, and my husband and I both carry the faulty gene and Audrey is one of our four children, and Audrey has inherited both faulty copies which has given her the Usher syndrome diagnosis.”
Viewers threw their support behind Tracey as she grew emotional (Image: ITV)
She went on: “There’s no deadline of [her sight loss] being by the time she’s a certain age, so it could be any time from now and that’s why we thought we didn’t want to sit around waiting for something like that to happen and then wishing we’d done certain things or seen certain things and made certain memories. We don’t know, it’s an unknown.”
Speaking about her bucket list, Audrey said it “should take 10 to 20 years to complete”, while Tracey grew emotional.
“I’m so proud and every obstacle, Audrey just tackles head on with such enthusiasm for life,” Tracey said. “She just wants to suck every ounce of goodness out of life.”
Ben and Cat also shared their support for Audrey, revealing the This Morning team were helping her with her bucket list by providing an overnight stay at a castle and a three-day trip to New York to see the Statue of Liberty.
Audrey shared her bucket list plans before she loses her sight (Image: ITV)
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Viewers meanwhile were left in tears, with one writing on X: “I was in tears at the lovely little girl losing her sight and all the treats laid on for her.”
Another said: “Audrey is a superstar and her mam Tracey too! Hope they get to cross everything off her visual bucket list.”
A third added: “Aww she’s a lovely girl bless her she deserves it!”
“What a lovely girl, she deserves the world. Extra hugs for her mum trying to hold it together, not easy,” someone else wrote.
This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV1 and ITVX