14-year-old from Port Royal receives the gift of color vision + video
If ever there was a Christmas story to beat all Christmas stories -- well, maybe most anyway -- this would be it.
Early Saturday morning, 14-year-old James Rising, of Port Royal, got the Christmas gift he had been hoping for -- a pair of glasses.
But these weren't just any glasses.
Purchased by his mother with the help of friends and family, these glasses -- equipped with special lenses -- make it possible for James to see what most of us take for granted.
Like millions of Americans, James has Protanopia, or red-green colorblindness, meaning he cannot see the colors red, green or purple. At least not the way the rest of us see them.
For James, the world is bathed in a limited palette of indistinct colors.
The vibrant packaging of a red and green-striped Christmas gift, for example, looks like a deep brown or a drab green with very little detail.
"Our first real sign was around (age) 2 or 3," said James' mother, Stacey Rising, as she stood a few feet away from her son in Beaufort's Waterfront Park on Saturday. "He would bring home a coloring of a green house and a brown tree."
But all that was about to change.
Rising had told her son, an eighth grader at Lowcountry Montessori, that they were going to the park to meet friends and exchange gifts.
But what she really had planned was to surprise James with the new glasses. And what better place to do it than in a park with lots to look at.
Color blindness is something Rising knew her son would more than likely have, even before he was born, since her own father has the same condition.
"It runs in families," she explained Saturday as she waited for the big moment to near.
It's a condition that affects men more than it does women. In fact, an estimated 8 percent of all men (less than 1 percent of women) has some form of color blindness.
So trying out the special lenses was something her son, who loves art and is crazy about mandala-style coloring books with their wonderfully intricate patterns, had longed to do for some time -- ever since the family had stumbled upon them online.
In fact, James had been saving his Christmas and report card money for several months.
But as Christmas approached, and with only about $60 saved and the glasses starting at around $350, Rising realized her son would have quite a way to go before he could see the vibrant greens of a Windmill palm or the subtle fuschias of an Oleander bush.
Rising decided to set up a "GoFundMe" page on the fundraising website. That way friends and relatives who wanted to pitch in could help James realize his dream of seeing color a little faster.
"It's just the two of us, so I figured I had to do this for him," she said.
After waiting for years for her son to enjoy what she had enjoyed her entire life, the big moment was finally here.
With Rising's friend, Randi Blaylock, and Blaylock's two children watching, James was presented with a small, modestly wrapped box.
"I wanted you to open it here because, well, you'll figure it out when you open it," she said, sounding almost as nervous as James looked.
And figure it out he did.
With trembling hands, James opened first one box, then a small protective case inside.
As the faintest of smiles began to turn into the biggest of grins, James took out the glasses and put them on.
For several long minutes, he stood utterly speechless looking around.
To anyone happening by, he might have looked like any other lanky teenager trying on a cool pair of sunglasses, but to those in the know, something magical was happening.
Like Dorothy stepping into Oz, the look on James' face said it all.
"Are you OK," someone finally said, breaking the silence. Everyone laughed.
Overwhelmed with emotion, James turned to his mother.
"I love you," he said, hugging her.
"I love you too baby," she said, wiping back tears.
For the next half hour, James strolled through the park checking out everything from the green of a palm frond overhead to the deep purple of a winter cabbage in a nearby planter.
When asked what it was like to see purple for the first time, James could only shake his head.
"I can't ..." he said, searching for words. "I can't explain."
Sometime later, he said he thought life would be "much better" now that he could see colors he'd never truly seen before.
"They are even better than what I was expecting," he said.
What is Color Blindness?
Color blindness, or color vision deficiency, affects about 13 million Americans, according to a report by NBC's "Today" show.
Considered a genetic disorder, the condition usually affects men more than women. Currently, there is no treatment.
A recent NFL broadcast of a Thursday night game between the Buffalo Bills and the New York Jets made news when upset colorblind viewers found it difficult to distinguish between the solid red and green uniforms.
The condition can force those who wish to become pilots or electricians who may need to work with color-coded wiring to choose alternative career paths.
To find out if you or a loved one may have some form of color vision deficiency, take an online test at www.enchroma.com or www.colorvisiontesting.com.
Follow reporter Mindy Lucas at twitter.com/MindyatIPBG.
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This story was originally published December 19, 2015 at 7:58 PM with the headline "14-year-old from Port Royal receives the gift of color vision + video."