Michael Owen has opened up about his heartbreak over the rare eye condition that has left his son clinically blind.
The former footballer is a proud dad to four children that he shares with his wife Louise Bonsall: Gemma, James Michael, Emily May and Jessica. Sadly, James was diagnosed with incurable eye condition Stargardt disease when he was eight years old – which causes vision loss.
And now, Michael has candidly revealed how he “preys every night” that there will be a cure for his son’s condition.
Michael Owen and son on GMB
Michael and James appeared on GMB, fronted by Susanna Reid and Ed Balls, on Tuesday (January 23).
Speaking about discovering James’ rare and incurable condition 10 years ago, Michael said: “I suppose as a parent, myself and my wife probably felt far worse than James, which sounds really bad.
“You want to take all the pain away from him, you feel sorry for him every time he goes to hospital and gets new drops that make his eyes sting and he’s crying all day. But James was born that way, James doesn’t know any different. I think it was quite hard for us when we found out that this was an incurable disease at the moment.”
Michael added: “We live in an age with stem cells that we go to bed every night praying something will be there to cure him, but at the moment, it’s a condition that regresses over time.”
Michael Owen’s son ‘doesn’t know no different’
Michael then noted how James has never known anything different. And as a family, they always try to look at the “positives”.
He explained: “It’s water off a duck’s back to us, it’s just news to the world, but we’ve been living it for a long time. We just try to look at the positives. I’m a taxi driver for life and I am delighted about that. It keeps us close.”
James then added: “I didn’t know any different because it’s always been that way for me. I’ve always seen like that, apparently I have some bind spots and it’s blurry in some areas. But I don’t know any different.”
Michael Owen son ‘struggled for a long time’
When he was younger, James, whose sister is Love Island star Gemma Owen, originally had dreams of being a footballer.
When asked how his sight affected his career goals, James admitted: “It was quite hard. Especially with it being so close to home. It’s something you have to get over. It was hard at the time and I did struggle with it for a long time.”
He now plays for a visually impaired football team. Gushing over how “happy” he is now, James revealed it was a “relief” to find people similar to him to play footy with.
He said: “It was just how I was living. It’s still a bit of a shock that people don’t think of me as being visually impaired.”
Read more: Michael Owen sparks backlash with lavish display in sweet photo of reunion with daughter Gemma
GMB airs weekdays from 6am on ITV1 and ITVX.
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