Light 2005 - Braille Institute of America

BRAILLE INSTITUTE ANNUAL REPORT LIGHT 2005
“Tiffany was only 18 months old when she was
diagnosed with a kind of cancer called retinal
blastoma. We were so worried we might lose her,
so we left China and came to Los Angeles.
Every day we drove by Braille and were curious
what they did until someone came and told us,
‘This is what we do! This is how Tiffany can still
have an independent, wonderful future!’”
“In less than one month, I had lost 90 percent of
my vision. I started having problems reading
music and I kept finding ways to rationalize the
reasons for it. Then I woke up one morning and
there was a black area in my field of vision. It
was more than a physical darkness; it was a
metaphorical darkness. There was no one to
explain what to do next, and that was one
of the major revelations about coming to
Braille Institute.”
“My left eye hemorrhaged while I was on my
way to the ophthalmologist. It was the macular
degeneration and glaucoma. And he said, ‘Well,
you’ve lost vision in your left eye, and your
right eye is going next.’ I ran out in tears,
devastated. Because I’m an artist… I was waiting
for the bus, thinking, ‘No, he’s wrong.’”