I was blind but now I see!

I wasn’t born blind. At six years of age, I looked like any other child in the neighbourhood. I sat in the middle row in class and to see the blackboard is not difficult. I am told it is called the ‘whiteboard’ these days! It really doesn’t matter to me. Things were later to change. The first sign of trouble with my eyes came shortly after my tenth birthday. I started running into objects whenever it was dark. Soon, I learnt to adapt and gave it very little thought.

Then came the end of the year’s promotion examinations. The questions were written on the blackboard. I couldn’t read them from my position in the class but fortunately, our teacher allowed me to move closer and then back to write my answers. I wasted a lot of time doing this and this affected my results. For the first time, I moved from my usual 5th to 9th position to 15th   in a class of 28 pupils. My parents were furious with me. I tried to explain to them that I couldn’t see the blackboard; that I wasted time shuttling from the blackboard to my desk and back. “That’s a lame excuse,” said my dad. He gave me some spanking and told me to be more serious with my studies.

About four months after this, an incident happened that made my father to regret what he had done. It was about 8.00pm and we were all watching TV just before the night prayers. The rain was pouring down in torrents with thunderstorms. All of a sudden the lights went off.  “Bosun, please get me the candle and the matches on the TV,” dad said to me. It was pitch dark and I couldn’t see anything. Petrified, I dared not take a step. “Dad, I can’t see my way,” I shouted. My dad lit his cigarette lighter to allow some light in the room. “I still can’t see anything dad,” I said sobbing, not knowing how he would take it.

Dad thought I was suffering from night blindness and I needed Vitamin A supplements. He bought some for me but when there was no improvement after three months, he took me to an eye medical doctor – an ophthalmologist. I was found to be short-sighted and perhaps suffering from Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP). “I am not very sure,” the doctor said. I can’t see the usual signs inside your eyes yet but time will tell.”

He advised me to keep indoors and in familiar environment at night. Later, dad took me to other hospitals and some native doctors but all to no avail. Four years later, we had no choice but to go back to the ophthalmologist.

“Bosun, you have RP,” he now said with certainty. “It is a progressive disorder and almost always inherited. The genes are inherited from one or both parents. The rate of progression and degree of visual loss varies from person to person. But most people with the disease are legally blind by age 40.” The doctor was right in every detail. Two of my younger siblings also exhibited the symptoms of the disease at ages 16 and 18. The trouble and stress of caring for three children with visual impairment from an incurable genetic disease was too much for Dad. Sadly, he passed away after my 28th birthday. By the time I was 42, I was blind. I couldn’t see distance; I couldn’t read; I was in perpetual darkness.

A few months ago, I was introduced to Dr. Eberhart Zrenner. He implanted a tiny electronic implant under my retina. You cannot believe it, my vision has been restored! I can recognise faces and I can read. I feel like I have been born again. I am alive again! Please, join me as I read and sing “The Amazing Grace – I was blind but now I see.”Dr. Ben’s comments.

Bosun is a fictitious name. The testimony itself is an imaginative rendition of a story of a beneficiary of this new device. Prof. Eberhart Zrenner is real. He is the Director and Chairman of the University Eye Hospital, Tübingen, Germany. It is now possible to restore useful vision up to reading capacity for some patients with Retinitis Pigmentosa.

Just as I was preparing to send this article, I received an update to the story from an unusual source, about the new Bionic Eye Brain Implants by a company called Second Sight. This prosthetic device, called Orion, is a modified version of Second Sight’s current Argus II bionic eye, which could help more people who have lost vision than any already on the market. Testing is now underway.