A legally blind Ontario teen has been surprised with the gift of vastly improved vision, thanks to new technology and a corporate donor.
Cheyenne Field, 17, was born with optic nerve hypoplasia, a disorder that allows her to see only at short distances.
On Tuesday, she was presented in Toronto with a pair of eSight electronic glasses, a wearable device that uses a high-speed camera to capture whatever the user is looking at and display it in real time on screens.
Field had tried the eSight glasses two years earlier and loved them, but was unable to raise enough money to cover the $12,510 retail price.
Homebuilder Peterborough Homes heard about her problem and stepped in to cover most of the cost.
Field tried out her new glasses Tuesday at Casa Loma, Toronto’s famous castle that she had learned about in architecture class.
“It looks amazing,” she said, after slipping on the glasses. “There’s the gargoyles,” she added. “Oh my gosh.”
“Everything is so beautiful,” Field said. “It’s breathtaking to think that some kids won’t have a chance to experience actual sight because maybe their families can’t afford it,” she went on. “I’m so lucky.”
Justin Cogan, a vice-president at Peterborough Homes, said it was “incredible to watch someone see, essentially for the first time.”
With a report from CTV Toronto’s Pauline Chan
