A blind army veteran who completed two tours of Iraq has thanked a charity for the support he has received since losing his sight.

Darren Blanks joined the King's Royal Hussars just two months before the British invasion of Iraq in 2003 and undertook tours when he was just 18 and 20 years old.

However, after leaving the army he was diagnosed with Leber's optical neuropathy - a rare genetic disease that robbed him of his sight.

Following additional tests, it was also discovered that the 30-year-old had a benign brain tumour and an operation to remove it resulted in a cracked skull and the loss of hearing in his left ear.

Just weeks later, he ended up in hospital again - this time with meningitis.

"The meningitis came then came back a second time which resulted in me spending eight days in a coma in the intensive care unit in Newcastle hospital," he said.

"It was an incredibly tough time. I had to leave two jobs, at both Iceland and as a postman and was in hospital for four months as a result of the brain tumour."

Darren, of Egremont, was recently invited to the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, where he met the Countess of Wessex who this year became a patron of Blind Veterans UK.

The charity has been supporting Darren, who was a torchbearer for Egremont ahead of the London Olympic games, since 2011.

Blind Veterans UK has helped Darren to complete both the London Marathon and Brighton Half Marathon as well as three 100km walks, the Great Cumbrian Run and a stretch of Hadrian's Wall.

He is also running the Cardiff Half Marathon later this year.

Darren said: "Blind Veterans UK has given me the independence and confidence to carry on with life after sight loss. I've always wanted to run the London Marathon and they've helped me with that and last year I went skiing for the first time, too."

Darren, who is also a keen gardener, also had the chance to visit the charity's gold medal-winning garden.

It was designed by Andrew Fisher Tomlin and Dan Bowyer and is one of the largest show gardens at Hampton Court this year.

He added: "I started with my grandfather when I was younger and have just never stopped.

"Despite my sight loss, I'm still able to grow a lot of the fruit and vegetables that we eat at home."