I recently had the pleasure of interviewing a remarkable young man, Ben Underwood. Ben is your average teenager in practically every respect. Ben is into sports -- biking, skateboarding, surfing, rollerblading, shooting hoops, and he is a video game fiend. A huge gamer, he is pretty much undefeated in Wii Boxing, and dreams of being a game developer./p>
He’s a regular
kid, except that he can’t see.
He has no eyes, but wears prosthethics. Diagnosed with Bilateral Retnoblastoma or cancer in both eyes as a toddler, he had surgery to remove both his eyes just before his third birthday.
His life could have been very different but for his mother Aquanetta Gordan. Gordan decided when her baby lost his eyes that she was going to push him to use the gifts he had rather than feel sorry for himself.
They put their faith in God and only recently decided that Ben would no longer undergo chemotherapy, but take Glyconutrients, an alternative medical treatment.
"I never let him feel my fear. I never let him see me cry," she said. "I just loved him like the rest and I didn't treat him any different.
He uses clicking sounds, or echolocation, to locate objects by listening for the echoes in much the same way dolphins or bats use sonar reverberations to navigate. His sensitivity to sound has allowed him to do everything, and perhaps more, than most kids.
Ben doesn't see himself as different or remarkable. He's just an ordinary kid with big dreams. "I'm not blind," he says. "I just can't see."
To the rest of us, he is an inspiration.
Because I am so uplifted by his amazing spirit and grace, I am donating 25% of all revenues generated by this website to a Scholarship Fund to help Ben realize his dream of video game development. Please support this effort by donating to the Tip Jar or supporting this site's sponsors.
