Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

INUVIK (Jun 05/98) - The Inuvik Ride for Sight biker group is so committed to the cause of retinitis pigmentosa (RP), they named their motorcycle group for the cause.

Last year they earned about 70 per cent of the nearly $10,000 raised across the Northwest Territories. And their fundraising campaign is in full flight.

"Well, the bikers got together and wanted to raise money for something, so we decided on retinitis pigmentosa," says lifelong Inuvik resident Garry Smith.

Retinitis pigmentosa is the name given to a group of degenerative diseases of the retina.

In a healthy retina, at the back of the eye, there is a thin sheet of interconnected nerve cells including light sensitive cells, or rods.

Here, light is converted into electrical signals to the brain so the sensation of seeing can take place.

Usually RP first affects the rod cells. These cells concentrate away from the centre of vision in the retina and are responsible for seeing in dim light.

Therefore, one of the first symptoms of this disease is night blindness, followed by the loss of peripheral vision.

Volunteer fundraiser Brenda Smith says she has one relative with the disease, but had not heard of the disease before the bikers started their fundraising drives.

Money will be sent to the RP foundation in Toronto where people there will use it to promote and support research to find the cause, a treatment and a cure for RP and other retinal degenerations.

Though disease onset can occur at any age, people most frequently become afflicted as young adults. It is currently recognized as one of the most common inherited causes of blindness in people between the ages of 20 and 60.

Most patients have gradual progression over many decades, but different RP forms advance at different speeds.

Retinal transplants are not possible today, and no other treatments are believed to be effective.

Family history is now thought to be the single-most important factor in determining whether someone will contract the disease.

Bikers have been out in front of the Northern Store soliciting donations all week and will likely be there this weekend and part of next week.