https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9crPvfcEy4
A few days ago, the internet cried collective tears of joy when video of Kathy Beitz holding her infant son went viral. Mothers and babies are adorable, yes, but Beitz’s case is special. Like, she’s-legally-blind-and-has-never-seen-a-baby-before special.
Beitz, 29, who lives about two hours away from Toronto, told ABC News she suffers from a kind of macular degeneration called Stargardt. Though she is not completely blind, she has a blind spot in the center of her vision, she said. She looked at her baby through specialty glasses called eSight Eyewear.
The glasses cost $15,000 and are not covered by insurance, but Beitz received them thanks to eSight’s fundraising program, said Taylor West, eSight’s outreach director. He said the glasses, which are registered with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, work by capturing real-time video and enhancing it for the legally blind to see. About 140 people have eSight glasses in North America, West said. (Via ABC News)
That’s a very expensive pair of uninsured glasses, but Beitz, her family, and the company’s fundraising program don’t seem to mind that much. Besides…