News

The Man Who Dares to See
By mivision
June 1, 2008

A recently released novel by best selling American author Robert Kurson, has particular significance to anyone involved in eye health. Entitled Crashing Through, it is described as a "journey of suspense, daring, romance and insight into the mysteries and vision of the brain". It's the stunning true story of one man's heroic odyssey from blindness into sight. According to the publisher, Scribe, the story goes like this:

"Mike May (pictured seeing his children for the first time) spent his life crashing through. Blinded at age three, he defied expectations by breaking world records in downhill speed skiing, joining the CIA, and becoming a successful inventor, entrepreneur, and family man. He never yearned for vision. Then, in 1999, a chance encounter brought startling news: a revolutionary stem cell transplant surgery could restore May's vision. It would allow him to drive, to read, to see his children's faces. He began to contemplate an astonishing new world. Would music still sound the same? Would sex be different? Would he recognise himself in the mirror? Would his marriage survive? Would he still be Mike May? The procedure was filled with risks, some of them deadly, others beyond May's wildest dreams. And even if the surgery worked, history was against him. Fewer than twenty cases were known worldwide in which a person gained vision after a lifetime of blindness. Each of those people suffered desperate consequences we can scarcely imagine. There were countless reasons for May to refuse vision. He could think of only a single reason to go forward. Whatever his decision, he knew it would change his life."

Robert Kurson holds degrees in philosophy (Wisconsin University) and law (Harvard) and as well as being a novelist is a prolific contributor to publications such as Rolling Stone, the New York Times and Esquire. Crashing Through is distributed by the Penguin Group (Australia) and is now available at leading bookstores nationally.