Scott Cunningham was employed by Royal Mail as a forklift truck driver until early October 1993 when over a period of 3 weeks he lost his eyesight. After a stay in The Southern General Hospital in Glasgow, he was diagnosed with a rare eye condition known as “Lebers Hereditary Optic Neuropathy” LHON for short.
LHON is a condition that affects (usually) males in their late teenage years or in their early twenties, where the genetic disorder is carried from the female parent although the male cannot pass it on again. ‘Sufferers lose sight by the erosion of the optic nerve which turns white instead of a healthy nerve being pink in colour, thus no message from the eyes gets passed to the brain although the eyes look perfectly normal. There is no known cure for this rare condition as yet but sufferers are optimistic for a breakthrough with revolutionary stem cell treatment being currently tested.

With no serious illness prior to October 1993, this obviously had a major impact on Scott. “With a car in the driveway and a steady job but unable to leave the house unaided it was a major shock to the system” he comments. “The first few months I was still on a lot of medication due to the pain I incurred as the optic nerves died away and with the headaches that resulted” “With the help of my great bunch of friends and family support I was able to enjoy a limited social life but nothing like what I was used to prior to the onset of LHON.

With months of listening to talking books during the week and being practically housebound until his friends came at weekends to take him out to socialise, this was his life. Scott continues. “I decided that this was no life for me and that I had to decide what way I would move on” - “To be honest I had never even met a blind person before all this and apart from people I had seen on TV and the image you have of them sitting making wicker baskets and stuff I had no idea how a person with visual impairment, got on with their life.”

Luckily, at that time The Guide Dogs for the Blind had a training centre in Scott’s home town of Larkhall and after his mum had made tentative enquiries he was encouraged to visit them to see what was on offer. Scott says. “The thought of walking around with a white stick did not appeal to me and even the stigma of being seen with a dog in those early days was rather off putting” He continues. “I was really at a loss of where to turn to, until I visited them.”
After applying for a Guide Dog, Scott was paired with what was to become his first dog, Ike. A 3 week residential course followed at the training centre. Scott comments. “I vividly remember walking out of that centre on the first day of the course with my left hand on the dog’s harness and the other hand sticking out in case I walked into something, that was an indication of exactly how much I lacked confidence to move around independently”

After qualifying with Ike, Scott slowly built up confidence enough to get around town himself and get back on to public transport and make doctor, dentist and shopping visits by himself. He noted. “I was so lucky to have been partnered with Ike who was without a doubt, the ideal first time dog. He was in the Rolls Royce class!”

After becoming mobile and more confident, Scott attended Motherwell College where he intended to learn to use a computer as a blind person using the various pieces of access IT equipment that was available to the blind community. Whilst there, he joined the access course for visually impaired students where he met others with similar problems as himself and who also had the same hurdles to tackle each day.

“This was a major breakthrough in my development as a blind person” he states, “simply knowing that there are other people out there in the same boat as yourself was so comforting and made me realise I was not on this journey alone. We could all talk through our daily problems and discuss how simple daily tasks were tackled amongst us.”

With the required computer skills under his belt he then joined a course studying Business Administration and although he was the only blind person on the course, he found the typical students’ social life enjoyable. “It sure was a big culture shock once again moving on to a mainstream course where I was the only blind student.”

He continued. “Some of the lecturers had never taught a blind person before and having to obtain all the course material and have it converted either to audio tape or electronic format, was simply another obstacle to overcome and that made me stronger and more determined to qualify from this course.”
“With the aid of Audrey, a reader and scribe, who carefully read what was written on overhead projectors and such like, I was able to study on a par with the sighted students” – “There were many difficult days but I kept positive by reminding myself that I would have an HND certificate at the end of the course with my name on it”

He applied himself well to his studies and after 3 years of hard work he successfully qualified with that very HND certificate. Scott says. “Getting a job was proving more difficult than I thought even though I had adequate qualifications” - “Many an application was returned with the standard reply until I became lucky with the Inland Revenue”

Due to the Inland Revenue’s positive diversity policy, Scott secured a 6 month fixed term contract at centre 1 in East Kilbride near Glasgow. Shortly afterwards, he was offered a full time permanent place as a Revenue Officer and with the IT accessibility solutions in place there, Scott was able to undertake tasks within the office efficiently and effectively.

During this time, Ike came to the end of his working life as Guide Dogs retire in their 10th year. The training staff searched their database for a suitable replacement dog that would be able to cope with Scott’s increasingly demanding new hobby – Hill Walking. - “Ike was getting slower in his senior years but his work rate was still 100%” Scott says, “I remember walking with him down to the training centre to have a walk with the prospective new Guide Dog that the training staff had selected for me.”

Alison, who was a GDBA trainer, had sourced what she thought to be a suitable replacement dog for Scott from Walsall in the West Midlands, who had all the requirements Scott would need for his new pursuits on the hills and longer distance walks.

Scott said. “I had often heard that no two dogs are the same and almost immediately after beginning to walk with Travis, I found this was true” – “He was much faster, totally different in his mannerisms and overall a very different dog to Ike”

The residential training course began a few weeks later and after ironing out some initial problems due to unfamiliarites in style and speed, he tested his new set of eyes out on longer walks.

“There was simply no tiring this machine” laughs scott, “I always say Ike was more like a Rolls Royce whilst Trav is more like a “4 wheel drive of the road” dog” – “it does not matter what hill we climb or how many miles we hike in a given day, he just does not tire out!” he adds.

After a chat with one of his friends Colin, one evening in a local gym, the long walks were only to become longer. Colin was interested in raising money for charity and when Scott suggested that Guide Dogs should be their nominated charity and after tossing around a few ideas like parachuting and the like, they both agreed to tackle the famous West Highland Way long distance trail.

After researching this proposed trek, Scott found out that Travis would indeed be the first Guide Dog to guide his owner along this route from Milngavie on the outskirts of Glasgow, 97 miles north to Fort William in the Scottish Highlands. They were joined by another friend, Jamie and started off with a route that would take the 4 of them 7 days to complete.

On 1 April, Scott hobbled into Fort William with badly blistered feet, missing toenails and busted ligaments in his left ankle. Scott remembers. “It was very painful but there was no suggestion of me failing to complete this challenge, no way” - “We toasted our success that evening and also ensured that the flowing beer killed the pain!"

With the phenomenal amount raised on this initial venture, Scott had already decided that Travis’ Treks had to continue! Following on from the West Highland Way, he began researching the next trek - The Speyside Way. This turned out to be another tremendous success with donations again flooding in from worldwide supporters of the record breaking Guide Dog.

The next challenge was The Southern Upland Way in the Scottish Borders, where no Guide Dog had previously trekked, this proved to be tremendous money spinner for the charity and the hat trick of treks had raised an incredible £40000 thanks to generous supporters.

“I’ve been totally stunned by the support we have been given over the past 3 years” Scott says, “the people we have been lucky enough to meet and the places we have visited have made it all very much worthwhile.” He continues. “to think that that I’m the first blind person to tackle these 3 treks, does give me some kind of buzz but, my main objective is to show other blind people that challenges are there to be tackled and overcome on a daily basis. If, when undertaking these treks, it motivates 1 lady to be able to nip along to the shop now and then I will be simply delighted!”

Whilst on training stints and also as a pastime, Scott now enjoys “bagging” Munroe’s (a munroe is a mountain in Scotland over 3000 feet) with Travis and friends. “We have now bagged a few Munroes around various parts of Scotland, all of which have varied terrain. Each has their own level of difficulty but the feeling when you are at the top is something out of this world” – “the guys will describe the surrounding countryside but I paint a picture of what I think it looks like and soak in the atmosphere up there, it is simply amazing”
He goes on to say. “I think one of the best comments ever was when a fellow walker turned to Travis at the summit of Ben Lomond and said to him, this kind of terrain was not in the job description was it?” Scott says. “It is an ideal way to get away from every day stresses when you’re up there. It is a great sensation of self sufficiency and achievement and you certainly feel isolated enough from the rest of the population below!”

Apart from following Glasgow Rangers around Europe and being an avid Scottish rugby fan, Scott has one other major pastime – skiing! He has only recently returned from his 8th European skiing trip when he visited the resort of Livigno in Italy and I asked him about it:

“I had never even thought of skiing when I was sighted, in fact I never done half the things I do now when I was sighted!” he said.

The group he regularly travels with was formerly called The Guide Dogs Adventure Group and the group are from various parts of Britain. Each skier is paired with a sighted guide who calls commands as they travel down the mountains. Scott continues. “I feel this is the most relaxing and refreshing pastime around and the sensation of travelling down a mountain, being able to see nothing, but with the sun, wind and sometimes snow beating your face, is just superb” he adds. “With your guide travelling behind passing you left and right commands when needed, you have no idea how relaxing it is with those two planks on your feet. A week on the European ski slopes and skiing all day and enjoying the apre ski in the evenings with a great bunch of people, is just what the doctor ordered!” he admits.

It certainly has been quite a journey since those dark days of late 1993 for Scott but he does not look back. “I admit that I am now much more outgoing than I ever used to be. I enjoy the outdoors much more than I ever did before too but, that is probably because I used to drive everywhere. I took far too much for granted whereas now, I thrive on challenges and being as independent as possible each day”

“If you remain positive and believe in yourself, you will succeed. I really love it when I’m told I cannot do things because I’m blind. Those kinds of statements just make me more eager to go on and prove that if you keep a positive attitude and apply enough effort, you can indeed achieve any goal you have set yourself and that blindness need not be a disability that stops you.”

And indeed it has not stopped Scott one bit. The fourth trek was to be the biggest yet as the TravisTrek machine gathered momentum. This time Scott, Travis and the ever growing TravisTrek team decided to tackle the Pennine Way which runs 268miles from Edale in derbyshire back over the border to Kirkyetholm. Months of planning and logistical headaches saw the team joined by two members of 45 commando. With this support and donations of equipment, supplies and even an Arnold Clarke vehicle (from sir arnold himself) for the duration of the Trek, Scott was able to raise a further £15,000 and he and Travis once more walked into the record books as the first guide dog and blind owner duo to complete this mammoth undertaking. "Having tackled Scotlands biggest walks, it seemed a natural progression to take on one of the toughest walking challengest that Great Britain has to offer. The Pennine Way has the dubious reputation of only 1 in 4 challengers actually managing to go the distance," says Scott proudly. "It way an honour and a pleasure to sucssesfully tackle the Pennine Way with not only two of the elite Royal Marines, but also each end every member of the TravisTrek team who helped to make my dream come true." Each of the 16 days of the walk presented a new challenge and as the team travelled up the country they encountered diverse communities and Scott remembers having to get to grips with a different regional accent every day. Crossing the border to be greeted by a lone piper and many friends and colleagues was a very emotional experience for Scott and the Team. "This was the pinical of everything that TravisTrek had achived to date" says Scott "however even then we had no idea where or when the next trek would take us."