Ben Pierce: I Want To See, Creates Bucket List Of Things 'To See' Before Going Blind [Video]
A nine-year old Texas boy creates a "bucket list" of things to see before going blind.
Ben Pierce of Toronto, Canada, was born more than four months premature and was very underdeveloped. He was a tiny baby at one pound six ounces, and his eyelids were still glued together. A said scar tissue that was left over from previous health issues is slowly making Ben Pierce lose his eyesight.
It prevented his retinas from detaching, but it also left some scar tissue," explained Ben's father, Kit Pierce.
Despite his eyes, Ben Pierce is a normal healthy boy.
According to his father Ben Pierce, every time he grows, the scar tissue does not stretch. Thus he is losing a little more of his eyesight from both eyes.
Being an avid reader meant the perfect lighting and sometimes a magnifying glass so Ben can see clearly.
Ben Pierce appeared on Dallas' WFAA-TV and said that sometimes he sees little dots appear out of nowhere and confessed that he doesn't want to be blind.
Doctors suggested that Ben needs more visual memory as possible thus he needs to see more things, as much as he can, before he goes blind. For instance like animals, so he has a way of describing them when he loses his eyesight.
So Ben, along with his parents, made a bucket list of things to see before he goes blind. (Scroll Down For Video)
"This experience has been very bittersweet. When we first learned the news last fall that he is getting into the legally blind territory, it was crushing. But we wanted to focus on the positive and come up with his wish list," Heidi Thaden-Pierce, Ben's mom, told People.
From going to the "Harry Potter" castle, seeing the Grand Canyon and The Big Ben, to doing surfing and snorkelling, these are among Ben Pierce's bucket list of things to see before going blind.
His list goes all around the map and is quite pricey. Thus Ben Pierce, along with his family, (to include his six siblings) started holding fund raisers to save money and "Wish List" was penned.
Seeing a Van Gogh painting of haystacks was among his list, and the Dallas Museum of Art made it happen for free.
Below is some of Ben Pierce's Bucket List:
1) Harry Potter studios in England
2) The Louvre & Eiffel tower
3) The Grand Canyon
4) White House and Lincoln Memorial
5) The giant statue of Athena
Followers can go to Heidi Thaden-Pierce's website to see more of his "Bucket List" and those that have been fulfilled.