ican Stories - Mason

On April 1st, 2006, our son Mason was born. We found out when Mason was 6 days old that our baby boy was blind due to bilateral micropthalmia and coloboma. We had no idea and we were truly devastated. Blind? What does that mean? We asked all the questions. Is there surgery? Glasses? Transplants? The answers: no, no, and no. We even heard the word braille. Our lives were changed forever and we were scared to death. This wasn’t our plan. How do you raise a blind child? Will he ever see us? What did we do wrong? We left the doctors office not knowing what to do with ourselves, nonetheless what do we do with him? There were so many questions and very few answers. We were told that he would maybe see light and movement but we wouldn’t know for years. At first, we focused on “the retina”. What an important word that became. We focused on how we could get Mason more vision. We pegged, pleaded and prayed that everyone was wrong.

Then, as time went on and Mason held his head up, smiled, cooed and crawled, we said, “That’s our boy!”. We started to value that Mason was more than his diagnosis. He is a playful, loving, happy boy that needs us. He needs us to teach him that, “Life isn’t about what happens to you, but how you handle it”. So, we try to live each day with that motto.

We never would’ve thought that in one year we would have such a different outlook. We’ve been through exams under anesthesia, an MRI, and many doctors visits for second, third and fourth opinions. We also have the experience of conformers. Mason has bilateral clear conformers now until we know how limited his vision is. Some conformers have fit well, while others needed adjustments. At first, it was emotionally painful to put in the conformers when they came out. And it wasn’t fun to hold down our baby to get antibiotics in his eyes. All things we never imagined doing. It is easier now as he has become used to the daily routines. We know more about the eyes than we ever wanted to. But without going through it, we wouldn’t be as strong as we are today.  Through it all, Mason is currently walking around furniture, feeding himself finger foods and talking a little. When he sees a light, he says, “Cool”. We think he’s cool and we wouldn’t trade him for anything.
 
Now, instead of vision, we beg, plead, and pray for Mason’s happiness. We’ve learned that he needs happiness more than he needs vision. We have truly been blessed by our special boy.

Thank you to ICAN for putting us in touch with other special parents and children. It helps to know that we aren’t alone.

Visit us at www.caringbridge.org/visit/masonarchibald