A son is raising money for a charity which has changed his father’s life.

David Cooper, 37, will be running the Berlin Marathon on Sunday, September 24 to raise money for the Guide Dogs charity.

His father John Cooper, 70, suffers with a degenerative eye condition and has relied on the charity to give him independence following his retirement.

Mr Cooper was the headteacher of Monksmead Primary School in Hillside Avenue from 1982 – 2002 and is still well-loved by many former pupils.

In 1997 he legally registered as blind, and from then until his retirement believes that he was the only blind head teacher of a standard state primary school.

He said: “I am incredibly proud of David, he has always been Mr Fitness

“He completed the London marathon in four hours, a 100 mile bike ride, and a triathlon. He has always done these to raise money for blind charities, but this is the first time he has done it for Guide Dogs.

“When I retired, I wanted to do two things, be able to touch type so that my computer skills would be up to date, and get a guide dog so that I could keep my independence and get out and about.

“I have had teaching links to Borehamwood since I started teaching in 1972. I started teaching at 25, so I was a bit of a late starter, because of my eyesight.

“My condition is getting worse over time, but it’s always something I’ve lived with, my sight has never been good enough to drive, but that is quite nice because it means people chauffer you around.

“I’m a governor at Merryfield Primary School and they have also run events to sponsor Guide Dogs, so the charity must know Borehamwood quite well by now."

Mr Cooper has five-year-old guide dog Andy to help him in his day-to-day life, and says that the help the charity provides is life-changing.

This is the second guide dog Mr Cooper has been provided with, after Faith, and the span of a seeing-eye dog’s career is about 10 years.

From training the guide dogs as puppies, to covering vets bills, the cost of each guide dog is around £30,000.

To sponsor visit http://www.justgiving.com/Davidsberlinmarathon.