Life with a late onset disability is oftentimes a major emotional struggle for those affected. Going about your life one way and having that all change in the blink of an eye requires a lot of help and support.
Such was the case for Gene Purdie or Denver, Colorado. After losing his vision in his early teenage years, with the support of his friends and family, he was able to live a somewhat normal life. One day, though, he regained his ability to see in the most UNEXPECTED way…
The Hand He Was Dealt
It’s hard to imagine what it would be like to have a family and a life that you’ve never actually seen. Unfortunately, for Gene, he never got to lay eyes on his young son or his beautiful wife, something he accepted as part of the cards he was dealt…
Teenage Years
Gene hadn’t always been visually impaired, though. In fact, his vision had been totally fine until his early teen years. He had never struggled with his eyesight until one day…
Childhood Pastimes
Gene was always a fan of reading comic books, playing video games, and watching his favorite cartoons. Soon, though, everything would change for him…
Specialist
Gene first had vision issues throughout elementary school. He wore glasses to correct his vision issues but they got progressively worse over time, and the doctor’s suggested he see a specialist…
More Issues
At first, his symptoms worsened but he was just diagnosed with weak eyesight. He initially had trouble reading, because the words were blurred, but this only got worse. Soon, he couldn’t recognize people’s faces…
The Bad News
Gene’s parents took him to an eye specialist. They were hoping his vision issues were something that could be corrected, however, the doctor’s revelation turned their world upside down…
Stargardt’s Disease
After going through testing, he was diagnosed with Stargardt’s disease, a commonly inherited visual disease caused by retinal dysfunction. The disease is inherited, however, he was diagnosed later in life, at sixteen years of age…
Quickly Worsening
Gene’s condition rapidly declined. As there is no cure for Stargardt’s disease, he suffered from rapid vision loss and the symptoms continued to worsen. In dimly lit spaces, he had a hard time making out people’s faces. Soon after, Gene totally lost his vision…
Not Interested in Joy
By the time Gene met Joy, his future wife, he was totally blind. Joy was unaware of Gene’s disability and assumed that Gene simply wasn’t interested in her, as he would ignore her when she waved to him. Soon, though, she would understand why…
Blossoming Relationship
Joy and Gene were enrolled in some of the same courses, and so when they finally officially met, Joy came to know about Gene’s disability. They bonded really well and began dating soon after. After receiving their diplomas, they took their relationship to the next level…
Tying the Not
Despite all the struggles that Gene suffered, he had found himself a partner who loved him unconditionally and she never let his disability act as a hindrance in their relationship. They were married soon after graduation…
Starting a Family
A few years after they got married, Gene and Joy welcomed their first child, a boy, named Lincoln. While life was pretty great for Gene, there were two important people now in his life that he had never even seen…
Passionate Chef
One of Gene’s passions was cooking. He loved experimenting with new recipes and coming up with his own creations. As his eyesight worsened, though, cooking became a lot more difficult…
Helping Out
While Gene hadn’t lost his vision completely, everything was quite blurry. His wife taught him a great hack, where he used his phone to zoom in on recipes he wanted to try. He was able to return to his love of cooking. There was something else on the horizon, though, that would really turn his life upside-down…
Channel Surfing
While casually scanning channel surfing one night, Joy came across something that made her freeze. She had an idea, and this idea would soon change all of their lives…
Rachel Ray
While watching an episode of the Rachel Ray Show, Joy was struck with an idea. While she had always known that Gene’s disease was incurable, something on the show that day piqued her interest. Rachel Ray called a person to the stage—this person also had Stargardt’s disease…
New Technology
Rachel Ray was offering to help a guest with her disease. They claimed that new technology could help people specifically with Stargardt’s disease, restoring their vision back to almost normal…
Sparking an Idea
Joy couldn’t pull herself away from the television. The thought of Gene being able to see again made her eyes well up with tears. She didn’t know how to go about making this happen for him, though…
Dear Rachel
She took out a pen and paper and started to write Rachel Ray. Pouring her heart out in the letter, all she could do was hope that this would work…
Overcome with Emotion
“I began shaking and crying for the next hour or more at the thought of my husband being able to see my face for the first time, to see our son for the first time,” Joy said. The family was now anxiously waiting for Rachel Ray’s reply…
The Reply
They couldn’t help but wonder, though, if the technology was just a made-for-tv stunt. When they got a reply from Rachel Ray, however, their jaws dropped to the floor…
Pack Your Bags
Rachel extended an invitation to Gene and his family to come out to New York City to be on her show. The show was guaranteeing a cure for Stargardt’s disease. They packed up their bags and headed to the big apple…
Fifteen Years in the Making
Gene and Joy arrived on the set of the show and Gene explained how he had waited more than 15 years for a medical breakthrough for his disease. Finally, the wait was over…
A Breakthrough
The device resembled the look of virtual reality glasses with high definition cameras. After such a long time of struggle, Gene would finally see what he was missing…
It Was Time
Gene was asked to put the device on his eyes, and the audience, through a projector, would see exactly what Gene was seeing. But, would it really work…?
Turning to His Wife
Gene put the device on and immediately turned to face his wife and son. Gene was overcome with emotions and could hardly put together a sentence…
First Sight
The first thing he could get out was, “She’s pretty!” Joy was unable to hold back her emotions. They never thought this day would come…
The Moment
The emotional moment between Gene and his family was captured and uploaded to YouTube, where it was viewed and shared thousands of times. But this device wasn’t the only thing to change their lives…
Life-Changing
Joy was truly overcome with emotions. She knew her husband had waited 15 years for a discovery like this and this would change all of their lives for the better. Gene obviously felt the same…
Gene’s Thoughts
“I have been piecing together (images), a little at a time,” Gene said during the show. As if the gift of sight wasn’t enough, Rachel still had another surprise for the family…
eSight
The incredible device the gave Gene his sight back retailed for $15,000, but the family wouldn’t have to pay a penny of their own money towards it…
The Gift
Rachel and her team told Gene that the device was being gifted to him. The audience cheered and the couple had tears in their eyes once again. Oh, how life could change in a day…
New Lease on Life
Gene’s life forever changed that day on the Rachel Ray show, and thanks to his wife for writing the letter, their future had a much more positive outlook. Losing hope after 15 years would’ve been easy, but he refused to give up…
Sharing the News
Joy took to Facebook to share the incredible news about the Rachel Ray show and the eSight device. She wrote, ”
”Thankful to Rachel Ray and her amazing team for this priceless gift, your show gave us a new beginning.” Then, the word spread…
Newsworthy
Gene story began to circle around the local news media and he appeared on a few talks shows after his stint on Rachel Ray. Everyone wanted to hear more about this miraculous device and how it worked for Gene and his family…
Holding Him Back
Gene had always maintained a positive outlook on life even while his sight was greatly hindered, and now the possibilities for him were truly endless…
Sharing the Joy
Science has come a long way and the advancements made in the realm of disability care has made leaps and bounds. And now, finally, there’s a device which can help people with Stargardt’s disease which allows them to see again…
A Better Life
eSight is a historic invention. The device now retails for $9,995 and while that is a hefty price tag, the benefits it can give to users are exponential…
Never Give Up
If there’s one take away from this story of Gene and his new lease on life, it’s that truly anything is possible.