Competing in Olympics, Paralympics with ten percent of his vision

From the Seattle Times, MacLean’s magazine and elsewhere:

Canadian skier Brian McKeever is the first winter-sport athlete ever named to compete in both the Olympic and Paralympic teams. Like his father, McKeever has Stargardt’s disease, the most common form of inherited juvenile macular degeneration. An excerpt:

“There’s not a day goes by that I don’t wish that I saw better,” McKeever, 30, said, talking to a small group of reporters earlier this week. “And yet, it’s made me who I am. It’s a part of who I am and I like the person I am. If that’s the case, then this can’t be all bad. But I certainly wouldn’t wish it on anybody else.”

“… I looked at my dad, who has the same disease, and saw how it never stopped him. I realized it didn’t have to be a limiting factor and it’s best just to get on living life. To be honest with you, I don’t think this has taken much away from me.”

(Photo from Maclean’s)

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 25th, 2010 at 2:28 am and is filed under blindness/visual impairments, exercise/sports, personal stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.