Footballer Michael Owen On Sight Loss: 'I'd Swap Eyes With My Son If I Could'

Former England striker Michael Owen says he would “swap eyes” with his son if it was possible to help the teenager see again.

James Owen, 17, who hoped to follow in his father’s footsteps, was diagnosed with Stargardt disease, a degenerative eye condition, when he was eight.

Speaking on the BBC Access All podcast, Michael said: “If I could give him my eyes … I would.

“I would pay every cent I’ve got to make James see again.”

James is from a family of top footballers. Michael played as striker for clubs including Liverpool and Real Madrid, and somewhat controversially went on to play for Liverpool’s big north-west rivals Manchester United. His father Terry Owen started his own footballing career at Everton in 1966.

The beautiful game was very much in James’s blood, but it slowly dawned on the Owens something unusual was going on with their young son.

James was a good player when he was on the ball, but he often failed to track passes or notice player movements further down the field.

It became more concerning when he struggled to compete on bigger pitches and it was all getting too fast-paced, James admits.

At home or on holiday, Michael says he often got frustrated when trying to take family photographs as his young son always seemed to look to the side of the camera rather than at it.

Even so, Michael says it came as a “hammer blow” when he and wife Louise were referred to an eye specialist and were informed of James’s diagnosis.

James told Access All presenter Emma Tracey, who herself has no sight, that his “central vision is blurry” and that “I struggle with seeing different colours and different lights” although he has “good peripheral vision”.