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Legally blind woman sees her baby
Yahoo7 News
January 25, 2015, 10:57 am
A legally blind woman has been able to see her newborn baby boy thanks to a pair of high-tech glasses, with the beautiful moment even captured on camera.
Kathy Beitz, from Ontario, Canada, was diagnosed with Stargardt disease when she was 11, which left her legally blind from childhood, but new technology called eSight has allowed her to see again.
In a YouTube video that has already attracted more than half a million views in just days, Ms Beitz gasps when she is handed her son.
“Oh my gosh,” she says as she sees her baby through the glasses.
“Look at his long toes.
“You know what, I feel like he has my mouth. I love his lips because they’re my lips.”
Her newborn son was actually the first baby she had ever seen.
“For the first baby that I actually get to look at being my own is very overwhelming, and even to look at my husband looking at him was such a good feeling,” she says in the video.
Her newborn son was the first baby Ms Beitz had ever seen. Photo: YouTube.
According the eSight website, the glasses use ‘a sophisticated high-speed camera, patented video processing software, a computer processor and the highest quality video OLED screens to project a real-time image that allow the legally blind to actually see”.
The technology works for most people who are legally blind, otherwise known as having low vision, as there needs to be some vision for the eSight to enhance, but is ineffective for those who are profoundly blind.
Kathy Beitz takes a moment to bond with her baby. Photo: YouTube.
Coming in at $15,000, the glasses are not cheap, but the company that makes them has a fundraising department to help people buy them.
Ms Beitz said the glasses have also allowed her to do other everyday tasks like go to the shops, along with caring for her baby, the Daily Mail reported.
“When I knew I was getting the glasses, I got very excited. I knew then I would be able to read books to the baby and be a part of that experience... it gave a huge independence to my parenting skills,” Ms Beitz said.
Her sister Yvonne Felix, who is also legally blind, uploaded the video to YouTube, which kicked off the #MakeBlindnessHistory campaign, raising money to help other people get their own eSight.
