In a few years , the children will no longer be able to see and, before that happens, they have organized a trip around the world to impress them with beautiful visual memories.
The amazing story comes from Canada.
Edith Lemay and Sebastien Pelletier discovered years ago that their little one, Mia, had vision problems. The little girl was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa , a rare genetic disorder that causes loss or decline of vision.
But unfortunately the drama did not end there: the other two younger children, Colin, who is now seven, and Laurent, who is five, also began to suffer from the same symptoms and in 2019 a diagnosis identical to that arrived. of Mia .
The disease did not even spare Leo, who is now nine years old.
There are currently no effective cures or treatments to slow the progression of retinitis pigmentosa. "We don't know how fast it will advance, but we expect they will go completely blind by middle age ," Lemay told CNN.
In the hope that science will make progress in the coming years, the specialists have meanwhile advised the couple to have their children absorb "visual memories": "I thought that I would not show them an elephant in a book, but that I would take them to see a real one, "Mom said. At that point she and her husband began planning a year-long trip around the world with their children, putting aside their savings, also helped by the sale of the company Pelletier worked for and in which he held shares.
They brought with them a wish list for the children: Mia, for example, wanted to ride a horse, while Laurent wanted to drink juice on the back of a camel.
The large family was forced to postpone the undertaking due to the pandemic , but last March they managed to leave Montreal, starting the journey from Namibia, among elephants, zebras and giraffes. Then stop over in Zambia and Tanzania, before flying to Turkey, Mongolia and Indonesia.
