This is my star junior Bible quizzer Nathanyel and his dad Nathan Smith. Nathan has Retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic disorder of the eyes that causes loss of vision. This disease is genetic and has no cure and no treatment and Nathan has progressively lost his sight over the past few years. He is dependent on his family members to guide him in public places and has been unable to work. We are raising funds to buy a new device for Nathan called the OrCam Pro (www.orcam.com) which will allow him to recognize colors, products, family members and have text read to him to help him achieve some of his independence back. 

Nathan and his wife Alecia are faithful members of the POA YMC Class and Nathanyel is a 6th year junior Bible Quizzer. 

Dr Phil on Orcam device on Youtube

Review/demonstration video 

https://youtu.be/tqAN6hlnn4I

From Nathan’s wife Alecia:

Nathan was diagnosed with a disease known as retinitis pigmentosa, commonly referred to as RP, when he was a child. In the early stages of this disease, it caused night-blindness and peripheral field of vision loss. RP is a genetic progressive disorder that affects the retina and in turn causes the death of the light-sensing cells (cones and rods) of the retina to gradually deteriorate. In his advanced stage of RP he no longer has color vision in his workable sight. At the current age of 36, Nathan has significant field of vision loss due to RP and is no longer able to enjoy many of the activates he once did. Nathan is now classified as legally blind.

While he is very resilient and has learned to adapt his life to his current situation, he has become increasingly limited in the things he can do. Nathan worked for years as a Millwright before his conditioned worsened to the point that he could no longer safely work in his chosen field. He daily struggles in a world created for and lived in by sighted individuals. 

This device, OrCam Pro, would give him back so much of the independence that has been slowly robbed from him by RP. The Orcam Pro can tell him where things are located in a room. The device is interactive and can communicate with him about reading material. He could use this device to do something as simple as heating his lunch up in the microwave, which he currently does by guessing because his wife works out of the home and he cannot read packages or tell the numbers he has pushed in on the microwave. It could help him do everyday activities as picking out his on clothes when he gets dressed. The device can even be loaded with people’s faces so that he knows who is talking to him or standing by him. The list could go on and on, but there are so many everyday applications that this device will help Nathan with...from locating a dog toy on the floor to helping him find an emergency exit in a life-or-death situation. 

This device can be the tool to help him LIVE his life to the fullest!