Margie Haddox with Adam |
The Sight Savers goal to give each child his or her best possible vision is played out every week as the Sight Savers Rehabilitative Services van rolls up to the home of one of "Margie's" kids. Margie Haddox is the director of the Rehabilitation Services Division and has been serving low vision, legally blind and blind children for ten plus years.
Though some 200 kids from one end of Alabama to the other have benefited from these services, Margie still knows each one by name.
Each child has a different story. There are those who break our hearts, those who make us laugh, those who inspire us - but each of them brings us to new awareness of the meaning of the word courage and the meaning of hope… and how blessed we are to have known them.
Deya and her Mom |
Deya is five years old. She's smart, precocious and has a smile that can warm your very soul. She has a head full of pigtails all tied with blue ribbons, and her favorite friends are Elmo, Big Bird and Jesus. Doctors don't know exactly what's wrong with the little girl, but they do know her condition has left her legally blind. Deya has only very minimal peripheral vision. Her Mom, Sonya said the day Sight Savers showed up at their door with a CCTV and a Jordie, "changed our lives forever."
Deya's winning art! |
Until that day, Deya had never seen her Mother's face, but when she put on the head worn magnifying device, she looked up, and that wonderful smile lit her face. 'Mommy," she said. "Mommy, I can see you!" Since the arrival of her sight enhancing equipment, Deya has had a lot of new experiences. She has seen ducks at the park, Santa Claus, and "he was red," she discovered. Her latest major accomplishment? Using her CCTV to paint a picture that won first place in an art contest for drawing the best Christmas tree!
Christian and Anna Marie |
Christian and Anna Marie are brother and sister who live in Selma. Both suffer severe vision impairment. On the day the Sight Savers team arrived she was waiting on the front porch, an impish little eight year old with a batch of freckles peeking from behind her wire rimmed glasses. "I have been counting the hours till you got here," she exclaimed, revealing an ever so slight hint of impatience. And just what are you going to do with this new CCTV, asked one of the Sight Savers staff. "Oh, I'm going to read too much," said Anna Marie. "I'm going to read all the books in the house. I'm going to read all day. I may read for a thousand years!" Her brother Christian, a bit older, at age ten and perhaps a bit more practical said he planned to do some reading as well, but first he was planning "to get a good look at my rock collection."
Brandy Lovelady |
Brandy Lovelady, who lives in Huntsville is legally blind. She has been using a CCTV from Sight Savers for the past 8 years, since she was 13 years old. Today, Brandy has graduated from school; she has a full time job and lives in her own apartment. She said she owes her independence to Sight Savers. "I couldn't have done any of this without them," she said. "The CCTV has helped a lot. I couldn't have afforded the equipment. I am very grateful to them."
Emily and Scarlet |
Emily Woods from Tuscaloosa is a determined young lady. She too uses a CCTV and reads, draws, studies all of the things for which most get use their sight enhancing equipment. But, Emily discovered one more use - she got to see her new puppy! She knew he was warm and soft and squirmy, but she had never gotten a good look at him until she stuffed him under that magnifier and looked him in the face!
