My wife, Kara, was born with Usher Syndrome, a condition that combines hearing impairment with a retinal degenerative disease called Retinitis Pigmentosa. Kara was night blind by the time she was sixteen and lost enough of her peripheral vision to no longer drive by the time she was twenty one. She still has eight degrees of vision (whereas most of us have around 180 degrees) but appears perfectly normal to most people who meet her. She even runs regularly, which I still find amazing…and crazy. She swears she is fortunate, as others experience much more rapid progression and vision loss, and I love her for this. That she can see our children's faces is indeed fortunate.
