How Disabling is Blindness?

The first worldwide Glaucoma Day was held this year in March, with much publicity, free testing by ophthalmologists, and free information given out. Glaucoma causes blindness if left untreated long enough. Cataracts also cause blindness when left untreated, and the treatment is to remove the entire lens from the eye, replacing it with an artificial lens such as Crystalens, ReSTOR, or ReZoom.

Then there's diabetic retinopathy which also causes blindness and is hard to treat at all. Eye injuries and inherited eye conditions cause their quotas of blindness, so worldwide, there must be many blind people and probably nobody has ever counted the number.

A Blind Man's Life Recounted

A story was published yesterday about one Mike May, now aged 54, whose eyes were damaged by a chemical explosion when he was three. The corneas (clear front part) were so scarred that he became blind. As a blind man:

• He competed in the Paralympics and won three gold medals for downhill skiing
• He has a guide dog and can get around with no trouble in daily life
• He is married with two sons
• For a while he was a member of the CIA
• In 1976 he went to Ghana with his guide dog, living with a local family and talking and singing with local children until he contracted malaria and returned home
• He has since traveled with his dog to Brazil, Europe, Puerto Rico, and Mexico
• He regularly gives inspirational talks to both small and large audiences

Some Vision Restored

In 2000 Mike May had a stem cell corneal transplant and regained some of his vision, although he's still legally blind. On Monday, he addressed a full auditorium about his experience with blindness and the corneal transplant results. The occasion was part of the Conference on Low Vision in Montreal, Canada.

His newly restored vision allows him to run and catch a ball accurately, yet he says he has no depth perception. He sees colors and has good contrast vision but can't recognize people's faces and can't read.

In May, 2007, a book was published called Crashing Through about Mike May's life so far. Fox 2000 is working on a movie based on that book. You can see many photos and read more about this man's productive life on the Sendero Group website.

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