In the past week, a 12-year-old New Zealand boy has traveled to America for the first part of an expansive journey his parents are taking him on. Louis Corbett is rapidly loosing his eyesight as a result of an ocular degenerative disease, which has already taken 50% of his eyesight in just one year's time. As a result, his parents wanted to take him to see "as many beautiful images as we can" before his eyesight is fully eradicated. So, Louis made an "ocular bucket list", in which he chose places that he had liked to see before his eyesight had gone. He chose places including Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon, the Empire State Building, and Google headquarters in California. Of all the places in the world to visit, however, the thing he most fervently wanted to see was a Boston Celtics game. On Wednesday, he got to witness the game with court-side seats, greeted by jumbotron that read "Welcome, Louis!" and got to meet Celtics players in the players' locker room. All this, thanks to the generosity of Corinne Grousbeck, a soon-to-be chair of the Perkins School for the Blind.
Upon hearing about Corbett's circumstances, Warren Casey, CEO of a company in Boston, decided to contribute to Corbett's family with a big donation to fund his "bucket list" travels, and worked to get others to contribute as well. Corinne Grousbeck's aid of the blind gave way to her discovery of Louis's story, and as fate would have it, her husband was the owner of the Boston Celtics, who then worked to get Louis's family the best tickets possible for a game. In another strike of fate, March 5th, the date the Corbett family would be travelling to Boston, was the same date designated as "Perkins School for the Blind Night" at the Celtics' basketball stadium.
This story made me so happy. At first, it seems that this kid was the innocent victim of a horrible disease, but after hearing the blessings it has brought him, it seems that the disease has been hardly an obstacle. During his trip to Boston, Corbett will visit the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, a facility known for its "cutting edge" technology - and with all of the happy coincidences that have followed Louis since the news of losing his eyesight, it may not be too far-fetched to think that he may never have to lose his eyesight at all (that is, that his eyesight will stop deteriorating). This story goes to show that a situation is exactly what you make it, and this kid has certainly done an excellent job of fulfilling that theory.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/02/health/blind-child-bucket-list/index.html?hpt=us_t5
It's sad that he had to be the victim of a disease like that. Maybe it'll turn out that the he'll find a treatment that helps him. It's really nice to hear that his parents were willing to try to let him see all of these things before he loses his sight.
ReplyDeletethis is cool. hopefully something can be done to stop this disease from completely taking his eyesight. however, if in the end he looses his eyesight at least he got to see all of the things that were on his bucket list.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to hear that he got to see all of the things on his bucket list before his sight got even worse but it's also sad that he has this disease. I hope they find a cure for it soon so that Louis can maybe get his sight back.
ReplyDeleteI am really happy that his parents and Warren Casey( mostly his parents) are doing this for this boy. Happiness is something that needs to be shared and I am glad that they are sharing it with this young boy.
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