A partially blind Epsom personal trainer has raised more than £2,000 in just over three weeks, as he seeks to raise awareness of a rare disease.

As a child, Rob Sears, of West Hill was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), a disease of the eye that causes the sufferer to progressively lose their vision, before eventually going blind.

Rob was told he would most likely go blind between the ages of 30 and 40.

He is now 34.

Mr Sears tried to explain what it is like living with RP. He said: "Imagine having cardboard cut-out glasses filled in except for little pin pricks.

"You have a very, very small field of vision. The day sight is like looking through binoculars, in the evening I am completely night blind.

"I can’t pick out details - I might see the light, but not the lamppost itself.

"I can be quite scared sometimes. It does hold you back to a certain degree."

But he clearly does not let his condition hold him back too much.

He works full-time as a personal trainer at the Royal Automobile Club in Woodcote Park and has even managed to complete triathlons.

He is currently on a charity drive for RP Fighting Blindness - a charity that has helped him and others to cope with the disease.

He has pledged to undertake increasingly strenuous physical challenges for every £500 raised, before taking on Ironman UK in Bolton next July - a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile cycle and a marathon run.

So far he has taken in an aqua aerobics class and had his legs waxed.

As the total raised has exceeded £2,000, he is now due to take part in blindfolded food tasting and run the Brighton Marathon in an Ipswich Town kit - which for a lifelong Norwich City fan will be hell, though it could have been worse.

He said: "I have got a lot of friends who are Ipswich Town fans and they spoke to the club, trying to get the mascot to lend his costume to me to run in.

"Luckily the guy who does it is funny about lending it out and refused."

As the total pledged surpasses £2,500 and then £3,000 he will commit to cycling up and down Boxhill in Surrey in a pair of Speedo swimming trunks, and completing an assault course "which will comprise of all the elements I avoid - mud, dirty water, obstacles, high things, balance and being shouted at."

Fundamentally, the charitable challenges take him out of his comfort zone, showing him and others that anything is possible.

He said: "It is easy to stay inside where it is nice and safe.

"But I work full time with the Royal Automobile Club, and I force myself to go out and socialise at night time.

"Doctors say I should probably ease off but I don’t want to. I don’t want my condition to hold me back."

The challenges are also, perhaps poignantly, some of the final physical trials the triathlon-lover may be able to complete.

He said: "It did not weigh on me when I was younger.

"But now I am 34 and getting towards 35 it starts to become a reality. I definitely feel my eyesight deteriorating.

Increasingly, Mr Sears is accepting his loss of vision as an inevitability, and is preparing for life beyond blindness.

He said: "I have been preparing for when I lose my sight.

"I have done a degree and a few diplomas so when I can’t be a personal trainer anymore I can be a sports massage therapist or a sports psychologist.

"That fear of losing my identity has always pushed me to work harder."

He hopes the money he raises can help future generations of Retinitis Pigmentosa-sufferers.

To donate to RP Fighting Blindness, visit the Justgiving page: https://www.justgiving.com/RobIMUK2016/