As he held his 16-pound bowling ball in his hands and looked down the lane toward the pins standing before him, 78-year-old Dale Davis saw only a blur.
He couldn't see the lane. He couldn't see the pins. He couldn't see the people who had gathered behind him to see whether the blind man could accomplish something no one else at this alley ever had.
Only if he turned his head to the left could Davis see a thing. It has been this way for 11 years, the World War II veteran losing all his vision except for a tiny sliver of peripheral sight out of the corner of his right eye. His impairment is the result of a medical condition known as macular degeneration, in which the inner lining of the eye atrophies, in certain cases resulting in the loss of vision. For Davis, it is that tiny sliver of sight, not to mention a multicolored cane and 10 weeks of education for the vision-impaired, that allow him to live by himself. To take care of himself.
"If somebody comes up to me and says, 'Hello,' unless I recognize their voice, I have no idea who they are," Davis said. "In the bowling alley, looking straight down the wooden lane, I'm completely blind. Everything is just very, very hazy."
But on the evening of May 3, none of that mattered. After bowling a 160, a 150 and a 185 in his three previous games, Davis had rolled 11 consecutive strikes in his fourth and final game of the 2007-08 bowling season. All that stood between him and bowling perfection was one more strike.
Source and entire article
Amazing! Simply amazing!
No comments:
Post a Comment