May 24, 2007 (Talk of the Nation) — At the age of 45, Michael May, who had been blind since childhood, was given the possibility of sight through a revolutionary stem-cell transplant surgery. Author Robert Kurson has documented May's experiences regaining his sight in a new book, Crashing Through.
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'Crashing Through' from Blindness to Sight
May 24, 2007 (Talk of the Nation) — At the age of 45, Michael May, who had been blind since childhood, was given the possibility of sight through a revolutionary stem-cell transplant surgery. Author Robert Kurson has documented May's experiences regaining his sight in a new book, Crashing Through.Michael May was blinded at age three, and lived 42 years of his life without sight. In 1999, at age 45, May was given the possibility to see again through a revolutionary stem-cell transplant surgery.
Before the surgery, May lived a full and rich life without vision; he broke records in downhill skiing, worked for the CIA and became a successful inventor. After a lifetime of identifying himself as a person who could not see, deciding to undergo the risky and life-altering procedure was not easy for May; the few documented cases of blind people regaining their sight indicate that it is an exciting and dramatic — but also terrifying — process.
Despite the enormous medical and emotional risks, May decided to go through with the surgery. In a new book, Crashing Through, author Robert Kurson chronicles May's experience regaining his sight: from the joy of seeing his wife and his children for the first time, to the extraordinary frustration he faced learning to use his recovered eyesight.
Guest:
Robert Kurson, author, Crashing Through: A True Story of Risk, Adventure, and the Man Who Dared to See
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