Collage By Ada Hoag
When I was a young boy the idea of being blind was the scariest thing I thought about. I couldn’t imagine how one could overcome the adversity of blindness. I’m not sure why this was (maybe still is) such a hurdle to me. I grew up around people who were living with and overcoming adversity in their lives. Both my paternal grandparents were deaf from childhood due to scarlet fever; it didn’t stop my grandfather from having a successful career with IBM and being a constant champion for people with disabilities. My father was a deaf educator and the deaf community was a second home for me. I grew up with and watched kids and adults living with deafness and still leading full lives.
Seven years ago I learned that my boys have RP; it tore me apart to think about the impact on them. I was haunted again by my childhood fears. To help deal with my grief I turned to the Foundation where I found kindred spirits, started getting educated and found out what I can do to help. This has grown into a relationship of being engaged with foundation and a commitment to support the Foundation’s work through Vision Walk.
So ... I Vision Walk to build awareness and in that I try to build community; Vision Walking fills me with hope, hope that my sons and others living with and dealing with retinal degenerative diseases will overcome this adversity in their lives and achieve their aspirations and dreams. I walk to do my part to help find cures to these diseases.
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