Hello,
My name is Nick Ackerman and I was born and raised in Canton, Ohio. When I was
3 years old my parents noticed I might need glasses because I kept bumping into
things. When I was checked for glasses, the presence of RP was also discovered.
Though I wore glasses, the only difficulty I had as a young child with my eyes
was my night vision. It prevented me from playing games at night and made walking
around in poorly lit areas extremely difficult for me. As I reached my teenage
years, the affects of RP really began to sink
in. The night blindness prevented me from going to parties, dances, even my
senior prom. What made things more difficult for me was I felt and acted normal
during the day time because I could see and drive a car perfectly. As the dreaded
nightfall came, I felt like a different person, ashamed and even embarrassed
at times.
I continued to feel the impact RP was having on my life when I began working.
It was tough, and still is, finding a job where I could be able to leave work
before night time so I have enough daylight to drive home. When I was 20, I
was fired on Christmas Eve from a job because the company said it was an inconvenience
to them for me to leave work early before dark. Dating was also very hard in
my early twenties because people at that age like to go to clubs and bars where,
for me, was like putting on a blind fold before you entered the place it was
so dark.
I continued working many different jobs and began going to college part time.
Then in 2000 I met my wife, Debbie. She has really changed my life and has taken
away the embarrassment and shame I once felt. At this point in my life I am
thinking about the future of my life and vision. I'm trying to cope with the
fact that one day I will completely lose my vision. For now I'm not at that
point because I still am able to drive short distances. However, I'm not sure
how much longer I will be able to drive because I have over the years noticed
a minimal amount of side vision loss. This upsets me because one of my biggest
passion in life is driving and working on cars. That
brings me to the reason why I am writing this story. After reading other peoples
stories I began to realize that life shouldn't revolve around RP. We must put
aside our fears and sadness and concentrate on things that really mean something.
For me that's my wife. I also feel that a cure will be found for people with
RP. Thank you for reading my story.
Sincerely,
Nick Ackerman