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F- AR- SIGH- TED Two local Teens look ahead To fuTure despiTe challenges wiTh blindness Story // Drew Murter Photos // Loren Haverstock B lindness is an uncomfortable thought. Maybe it���s an idea you link in your mind with other words like ���claustrophobia��� or ���lost���. But blindness is very much a reality for thousands of people across the country, thousands more around the globe, and even a few in our own back yard. But, as with anything worth ��ghting, there are always people standing up, raising money and performing research in hopes of inching closer to cures as time goes by: cures for degenerative diseases with alien-sounding names such as choroideremia and stargardt. The Foundation Fighting Blindness is an internationally recognized organization dedicated to the study of these visual disorders and helping those who su��er from them learn how to cope and resume their regular lives. The Foundation is headquartered in Columbia, Md. One of the ways the Foundation helps is by sponsoring charitable 5K walks, called Vision Walks, across the country every year. All proceeds from the Vision Walks go toward funding further research for ��nding preventions and cures. The walks also have the added function of raising awareness for the foundation���s work and spotlighting local residents who are struggling against blindness in some capacity. This past year saw an estimated 75,000 participants in 51 Vision Walks throughout the nation raise $24 million. March/April 2013 ��� 18 One of these Vision Walk fundraisers was held in Louisville on Oct. 27, 2012. Three hundred walkers took part, raising a total more than $38,000 ��� $7,000 of which was raised on the day of the walk alone. The stories of many brave men and women, both the blind and the seeing, who share the foundation���s heart and mission were told during that weekend, but the Louisville Vision Walk thrust two teenagers in front of the crowd that weekend, the 2012 Youth Co-Chairs of the walk Samantha Mayberry and Ty Gri��n. Samantha, 15, lives in Harrison County and is a freshman at South Central High School. She likes listening to music and watching movies at home with her family. She used to participate in drama at school until the program was closed down, so she���s been looking into another place where she can satisfy that passion recently. By all accounts, Samantha is just an ordinary teenager, but she su��ers from a condition called retinitis pigmentosa. ���I noticed she had trouble in dim light, running over things and tripping over things,��� Lori Mayberry said recalling her daughter���s early symptoms. ���My great aunt had RP, too, so I knew that a lack of night vision was a possible sign.��� Samantha was o��cially diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) in 2001 by a specialist in Chicago when she was 4, but her mother says the problems