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Meet a Child

Dear Lions members:

I am writing this letter to not only thank the Lions club, but to explain what an important impact the KidSight/Core 4 Preschool Vision Screening Program has had on our lives. We hope that by sharing our story, you will realize how valuable this program is to the young children of our community and will always continue to help with early vision testing.

My son, Cross, is three years old and attends the Windmill Daycare Facility in Windsor. We are a typical family whose world revolves around our children. We read books to Cross every night, play board games, work dinosaur puzzles and help him practice writing the ABC's. We have always considered Cross exceptionally bright—he can write his name, recognize letters, type his name on the computer and has amazing coordination at every sport that he tries. When we signed the permission letter at our daycare for him to participate in the KidSight program, we did not think twice about concerns with his vision. When the referral letter came back indicating the possibility of high farsightedness, we were in complete disbelief.

The very next day, I scheduled a visit with the local eye doctor. That visit, however, resulted in frustration for both myself and the eye doctor. When pictures were projected on the wall 10 feet away, Cross just goofed around, wouldn't sit still or pay attention. The eye doctor gave up and referred us to a pediatric doctor for an "unresponsive child." Frustrated, on the way home I told Cross how sad I was that he didn't behave for the doctor. When I asked him why he wouldn't tell the doctor what the pictures were, he replied, "because I couldn't see them." I cried all of the way home. That evening we made flashcards of pictures and tested Cross ourselves—he could not see even large pictures until about 10 feet away. We never knew.

The pediatric ophthalmologist confirmed that Cross is extremely high farsighted with a prescription for +7.000 and -6.50. His world for almost four years was always blurry and even in hindsight we or his teachers at daycare did not see any signs. Without the KidSight program, his vision would have continued to be blurry probably well into school age.

We are so thankful for the Lions club program and for having a daycare director who decided that the extra paperwork was worth it if one child's vision problem could be discovered and helped. We wish that members of the Lions club could have been there when glasses were first put on Cross and he looked up at my husband and said, "Daddy, you are soo big...I can see you." Or on the drive home when he looked out the window and exclaimed, "the trees have pokey things on them!" when he saw the branches on the Evergreen trees. And when he stared so intently at his sister's face with a look of amazement. His world is a new clear world thanks to your organization. Words cannot express our gratitude for the program and we hope that you continue helping children just like Cross.

Don and Kerri