SAN ANTONIO -- In March, San Antonians will be taking to the streets to raise money to fight blindness. It’s a cause that’s personal for one local family.
Jameson Dunn sees the world a little differently than other people. He uses magnifiers and other tools to enlarge letters and numbers that he can see only with his peripheral vision.
“The central vision, I can’t see there,” Jameson Dunn explained. “So when I look straight at someone, their face kind of disappears.”
When he turned 10, Jameson was diagnosed with Stargardt’s disease, a vision-robbing genetic condition. It was a scary diagnosis for his parents to hear.
“He told us that day, he used the word ‘blinding,’” father Todd Dunn recalled the doctor saying. “’Your son’s going to be blind’ and he even suggested we teach him to read Braille and things like that and we were just shocked.”
The Dunns are raising money for the Foundation Fighting Blindness, a group that raises millions of dollars to help researchers find a cure for Stargardt’s and other retinal diseases robbing people of their sight. Their team this year’s walk is called “Eye Believe.”
Jameson Dunn plays trombone in the middle school band now, coping with his condition with special large print music and a converted stand.
Like other 12-year-olds, he enjoys video games, even though he has to sit close to the monitor.
School is a challenge, but he’s on the “A-B” Honor Roll.
His parents are hopeful about the future.
“I hope he can get this disease cured as quickly as possible and get his vision restored to normal so he can see the world like we all do,” Jameson’s father said.
The San Antonio Vision Walk for the Foundation Fighting Blindness is Saturday, March 24, 2012, at Brackenridge Park.
