BURIEN -- The simplest of tasks are tough for Brian Aston - just getting a glass of water, working the microwave, even listening to the radio. Brian is legally blind with worse than 20/200 vision. He sees colors and shapes but not much more.
"Closing your eyes and walking through the world with a stick in front of you after almost 20 years, it's difficult," he said.
Brian suffers from a rare genetic condition called Leber's Hereditary Optic Neuropathy that blindsided him one day. Brian was playing golf with family and friends, and in the time it took him to get from the tee to the green, he could no longer see the flag. Six months later, he was blind, at just 19 years old.
"All of sudden some of the world was not there," Brian said.
But he refuses to let his handicap break him. He lives life like anybody else. He's even a competitive pool player.
"Even though I lose most of the time at pool, I still keep coming and I still keep practicing," he said.
Brian is using that determination for find a cure for his condition. His focus is now on an experimental gene therapy at the University of Miami. If he can find the money to cover the costs, Brian would be among the first in the world to put people on the path of seeing again.
"If it works out well, the doctors can continue and possibly find a cure out there for people, and that's an amazing thing to me," said Brian.
A fundraiser for Brian's expenses for Miami is happening Friday from 6 p.m. until close at Goodtime Ernie's bar at 15747 SW Ambaum Blvd. in Burien.
You can find more information about Brian and his condition at www.thegenetichouse.com.
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