Name: Catherine Gibson
Age: 48
Where are you: Bury, Lancashire, England
Communication method: Spoken.
Year of Usher syndrome diagnosis:?Not sure, around mid 1990?s.
Usher type:? Usher 2a.
Family/children:?Husband and 2 teenage boys, and a guide dog.
Career: Director of a construction consultancy company, and manage 3 more similar companies.
Hobbies: Reading books, travelling especially city breaks, I have a hit list of all the cities I want to visit. I love spa days and going out for afternoon tea. Going to concerts and theaters.
Three words to describe you:?Fun loving. Determined. Resilient.
What are you surprisingly good at😕 People say making the best cocktails and making them feel relaxed. I love cocktails and fizz!
Who is someone you admire and why?? My mum and my late dad, purely because they?ve had the character and strength to deal with 2 daughters with Ushers and not let it affect us and them in any way, they really are amazing people.
What are you happiest doing? ? Sitting in the sunshine. Travelling to new places enjoying different foods, cultures and new experiences, relaxing, eating and drinking with my family and friends, and reading my books.
What would be your personal motto: Life is for living, live it to the full, make happy memories and treasure the small things in life, live for the moment. (in my personal experience there are years when it?s not been easy, dealt with losing my dad, close family and friends through cancer they?re tough times) so when there?s a period of grace, enjoy it.
Tell us a little about the photo:? A photo of myself doing one of the things I love, having afternoon tea! Location is Cloud 23 bar at Hilton hotel in Manchester.
If you would like to share any particular usher story you can do so here: (it can be as long or short as you wish!)
There are too many to tell!
Whether this is an usher moment or pure stupidity, here?s a funny tale.
In my late teens/early 20?s I was invited to go paintballing with my friend?s work colleagues, we were put into 2 teams and put into separate rooms. While waiting for it to start, someone came in and gave us the paintballs for the guns, they were bright yellow, no one explained what they were and I thought it was a gobstopper and promptly popped it in my mouth! The look of horror of others and my expression when it didn?t taste nice??I spent the next half hour rinsing my mouth out with yellow paint!! Needless to say it was my first and last time at paintballing!!!
There is a brief synopsis of my life with ushers on the Usher?s support section on Usher Kids UK website.
I?m also actively involved in the Facebook group, Usher-Greater Manchester in organising meet ups every 3 months with people who have ushers, deaf/blind or RP or any other sight loss condition.
If you have signed up to be one of the ?Faces of CUREUsher? and would like to take part in this series, then please do send an email to us at contact@cureusher.org and we will get back to you asap.