Kent Christy

Journey into Blindness Kent Christy

Kent Christy offers his readers the moving story of his gradual loss of vision and the trauma and emotional turmoil this caused in his life. As he notes in his introduction, going totally blind is in many ways not so different from the experience of losing a limb, developing a debilitating illness, or going through the trauma of losing a loved one, or even one's home. A tumor found on his right optic nerve leads to the surgical removal of Kent's eye when he is a toddler. He copes with compromised vision and a prosthesis until his "good eye" begins to fail at sixty-three, eventually leading to blindness. He works through the stages of grief and learns to rebuild his life and find acceptance and hope.

Through sharing his experiences of coping with blindness, the author is testifying to others that it is possible to work through the many ups and downs of a challenging journey. It is possible to move forward and get back to the business of living one's life with joy and purpose. In addition, family, friends, and caregivers will gain insight and understanding of the process of loss and thereby be able to provide better-informed support.