As Darren's Eyesight Dims, a New Friend Provides Light
SALEM, Ore., Oct. 13, 2004 -- -- Darren Abrahamson was just a toddler when his parents noticed he was stumbling and bumping into things more than his peers.
It wasn't until he turned 5 years old that his worried parents started to realize what might be causing Darren's stumbles.
"He was just standing a few yards from me and said 'Where are you mommy? Where are you?' And that's when it really hit me," said Anna Abrahamson, Darren's mother.
Darren was soon diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a rare incurable disease that slowly robs its victims' eyesight.
Darren's doctors say the fifth-grader is likely to become completely blind one day. Darren, now 10, says the reality of the situation has just started to sink in.
"I knew that my eyesight was getting worse, but I didn't know it was this serious back then," Darren said.
Just four years after being diagnosed, Darren is already legally blind. He is now only able to read the largest letters on standard eye charts. Darren, who seems to always think positively, says he would be satisfied if he were able to keep the vision he has now.
"I don't care if it gets better if I can stay like this. That's all I need," Darren said.
For those who love Darren, the slow loss of his eyesight is heartbreaking. But Darren knows he will be OK. The young boy has shown a maturity that's far beyond his years when it comes to dealing with the disease.
"They say you'll probably turn blind, and I'll be scared and I'll say I don't want to go blind. I'd always be thinking about it -- but it might never happen and I could be saying that for the rest of my life. So I just don't even think about it," Darren said.
But Darren says he's not ignoring the possibility that his world will go completely dark in the years to come. He says he's prepared himself.
"Well, I'll just take it as it is. It will be just kind of not happy for a week after it happens, but I'll just get used to it," he said.
Meanwhile, Darren's parents are on a mission to take him on trips as often as possible, so that he can treasure what he can see now. His mother says she hopes to bring him back to Ireland to see her family once more.
"So he'll always have this memory of who they are, what they are and what they were doing when he last saw them."
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