I photographed Mike and his family for the second part of the Guide Dog’s Christmas appeal.

In November 2011, Mike’s vision started to deteriorate. By Christmas Day he could barely see. The day after Boxing Day, he woke up and his sight was gone forever.

In the following months, he struggled to deal with his sight loss. Then, later that year, he remembered the first Christmas he and his wife spent with their daughter. In that moment, he realised he needed to be strong for her, because she needed her dad.

Since then Mike has made amazing progress. But he still can’t do many of the things most people take for granted. To help him regain his independence, what he really needs is a life-changing guide dog. And he hopes this is the last Christmas he spends without one.