Steve and Dot Dutterer, of Westminster, have raised more than $50,000 to fight blindness this year, and it's not too late to join them and more than 200 others on Saturday for the eighth annual Baltimore VisionWalk, a fundraiser for the Foundation Fighting Blindness.
The VisionWalk is a 5K walk through Baltimore's Inner Harbor that has raised more than $700,000 since its inception in 2006, according to walk co-chair Christine Day, a Finksburg resident.
"You start at Rash Field, near the site of the science center. Then you cross in front of the Science Center and the two Harborplace buildings and over to where Pier Five and Six are and then we walk back," Day said. "It's an easy walk, dog friendly, stroller friendly and handicap accessible."
The Dutterers, who have been completely blind since 2001 due to advanced retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative disease of the retina, have been the top fundraisers for the Baltimore VisionWalk in seven of the past eight years and are track to be so again in 2015. They also raised money through a Foundation Fighting Blindness fundraising regatta from 2001 until the creation of the VisionWalk.
"I think our first year that we raised … about $1,500 to $1,600. Each year it grew. … We increased to about $28,000 in 2006," Steve said. "So far this year, we've had our best year; we are something over $50,000."
Registration for the VisionWalk begins at 9 a.m. on Saturday, and the walk itself begins at 10 a.m., though online pre-registration — and donations — can be made online at http://www.fightblindness.org/baltimorevisionwalk according to Day.
"There is no charge to walk if they just want to feel like they are being part of a greater good. If you do turn in a $100 or larger donation, you do get a T-shirt," she said. "There [are] all kinds of food, there is a moon bounce, and Batman will be there with the Batmobile."
Many VisionWalkers solicit pledges online, make personal donations or hold baked sales to raise funds, but the Dutterers have always relied on a letter-writing campaign focused on friends, family and businesses.
"We start in early December or January, and Dot hand-addresses all the letters," Steve Dutterer said. "We sent out about 1,400 letters this year from January to June."
"It's very time consuming, but for a very good cause," Dot Dutterer said.
In total, since 2001, Steve Dutterer said they have raised about $415,000.
All of the proceeds from the VisionWalk go directly to research on eye diseases of all kinds, according to Day, a cause she said is the singular mission of the Foundation Fighting Blindness.
"We fund research for retinitis pigmentosa, macular degeneration, Stargardt disease and Leber congenital amaurosis" she said. "The whole crux of the foundation is to raise money to fund research to find a cure; they don't do schooling or support for special-needs children, they just fund the scientists to do research."
That research could benefit Day's family as well: Her son and daughter, Derrick, 9, and Meredith, 7, were born blind due to Leber congenital amaurosis, also called LCA, which is an inheritable disease of the retina.
"It's a one-in-1,800 chance that a husband and wife with the recessive gene will pair up," Day said, adding that there is then a one in four chance that a child will be born blind.
No one in Day's family's memory had drawn that particular genetic straw in the past, so Derrick's birth sent her to the Internet to learn more about raising a blind child. That's how she learned about the Foundation Fighting Blindness and became involved in the VisionWalk. On Saturday, Derrick and Meredith will cut the starting ribbon for the walk.
Even those who are unable to attend the walk on Saturday and those who learn about it after the fact can still donate, according to Steve and Dot, whose Team Lancelot will continue excepting donations even after the walk.
"They won't close out this particular year until the end of June," Steve said.
According to Steve Dutterer, the team name comes from a research success story: a dog named Lancelot saw remarkable improvement of his LCA blindness through a promising gene replacement therapy.
There are many forms of LCA, according to Day, and the sub type that afflicts Derrick and Meredith is not one that could be improved by the promising line of research that began with Lancelot the dog. They remain hopeful and keep walking.
"They are both Braille readers and cane users; we are preparing them for a life of blindness, but we will never lose sight that there might one day be a cure for them," Day said. "We just have to keep raising funds to find a cure."
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If you go
What: 8th Annual Baltimore VisionWalk
When: Registration at 9 a.m., walk at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 6.
Where: Rash Field — Inner Harbor, 201 Key Highway, Baltimore
Cost: Free to walk, but free T-shirts for those that make donations of $100 or more
For more information, to pre-register or to make a donation, go to http://www.fightblindness.org/
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To make a donation to Team Lancelot, go to http://www.fightblindness.org/site/TR/VISIONWALK/VisionWalktr?team_id=77678&pg=team&fr_id=5578
