Mikey was born in 2010 a perfect baby boy.
Mikey is a huge Arsenal fan and grew up loving football, playing and watching at every opportunity.
Love for Football
He enjoyed attending Arsenal games, watching and cheering on his footballing heroes at the Emirates whenever he could, he always wanted to be a professional footballer.
He also enjoyed playing for a local club from 5 years old till around 6 and a half years old until his world was turned on its head.
When Mikey was 6 years old his parents took him for a routine eye test and a few months later was unexpectedly diagnosed with a rare incurable eye disease called ‘Rod Cone Dystrophy’ that in most cases eventually leads to blindness.
Doctors were unsure at the time how much vision Mikey could potentially lose or how long it would take, but sadly Mikey lost all his vision within around a year and a half when he was about 7 years old.
Doctors could not believe how quickly Mikey lost all his vision from being near perfectly sighted. His parents tried everything they could to save his sight, even trying safe alternative treatments such as acupuncture which consisted of needles being placed in and around Mikey’s eyes and body on a weekly basis, but unfortunately nothing could stop the devastating disease.
Mikey started the football season in 2016 very well sighted, but by the end of that season had to stop playing at his local club as his vision had deteriorated to the extent that he was officially legally blind and therefore too dangerous for him and the other children to carry on.
Never Give Up!
Mikey was devastated, not mainly because of his vision loss, but because of not being able to carry on playing football at his club, but was adamant and would still tell his parents he wanted to become a professional footballer. Mikey would not give up his dream of playing football and would still play with his father John, and brother Angelo at every given opportunity.
Soon after his vision loss his parents found a Visually Impaired Football session at the Tottenham Hotspur Centre of Excellence where specialist coaches would carry out sessions for disabled children. In Mikey’s first session, a football coach noticed Mikey’s natural ability, and informed the FA straight away who sent scouts to monitor him in training.
Within a few weeks Mikey received confirmation of FA funding for 1 to 1 specialist coaching with the potential of playing internationally for England one day.
Since then videos of Mikey playing football have gone viral on social media sites, branding him a ‘Phenomenon’ and the ‘Daredevil of Football’, multiple TV interviews and appearances in the UK and abroad, recognition from professional footballers old and new and pundits , along with multiple articles by the major news outlets.
Mikey continues to train with England weekly and is thriving in developing his football ability.