Cory’s Story

My name is Cory, I was 35 and a racecar driver and did construction for a living as well as other things with my hands. Not too long ago I had a car accident. It was pretty bad. My girlfriend prompted me to have an eye exam. This is when I found I had Stargardts. None of us had ever heard about it. I had to get rid of my stock car and lost my job and they took my drivers license away.

It has progressed rapidly since the car accident. My vision is cloudy, and I can’t see peoples’ eyes when I look at their faces. I wake up in the middle of the night thinking my house is on fire since the whole house seems like it is in smoke. I scare my girlfriend. My life has fallen apart and since this has happened I cannot find a job. I lay around listening to the races dreaming of what I had before this.

Who is going to hire a construction guy who cannot see or read a ruler? What really hurts is I can hear the local tracks racing in my area and I am unable to race along with them, especially when my racecar is out there racing. This car that I had built with my own hands, I can no longer see. My dreams have been literally blown apart. I am only 35, what the heck can I do now to keep my family in a normal sense of being. How can I provide what I hoped I would be able to provide for my girlfriend and her son. I had plans for my future and now after this everything is thrown out the window. It’s frustrating and hurts me to my soul. I have found very little help in my area. Not much sympathy in those who do not understand. It feels like I am utterly alone in this. Where do I go after this, how can I rebuild my life after all I lived for was taken away from me? When I let people know I have Stargardts they always say..Star..what? Then I have to explain what it is. And they go..oh! Simply put I am going blind slowly but surely without even knowing why. Where do I go from here? I couldnt even type this my sister is.

Cory

And in a later e-mail from Cory’s sister: “We are from Minnesota in the US. We did find some services that will help. These services are the Social Services for the Blind, just in case you have other people who need to know. We are looking for more information to help Cory. He is at the begining stages of trauma, but the Stargardts is at the later stages, it progressed much faster because of the accident. I help when I can but, it’s hard because he is so independant. As his sister it is also hard for me because he is my brother, and I hate to see him hurting.” /Brenda