Blind since he was six with only partial sight before that, James Elleyby met his wife at a school for the blind, has two young children both blind but never gave up on trying to regain his sight.
Six corneal transplants had failed when he and a sighted friend googled for doctors and came up with the name of Dr. Claes Dohlman, a doctor at Massachusetts Eye and Ear who developed a technique to use artificial corneas.
Man with restored sight has no time for tears.
James reached out and Dohlman reached back.
Last January, after surgery, Dohlman ripped the patch off and James instinctively covered his face with his hands. Then he blinked and pulled his hands away and realized he could see his fingers. He looked around the room and saw colors, the names of which he hadn't a clue.
He took the bus back to New York and found that Ivory and his little girls were more beautiful than he had imagined.
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He got a job - telemarketing, working with computers. He wants to go to law school. He wants to do everything. He believes he can do anything.
Invited back to Boston for a dinner organized for his doctor, James asked
"I don't have any money," James said. "What do you give a man who gave you your sight?"
A few weeks ago, James stepped outside his home in the Bronx. He looked up into the sky and saw something twinkling. He didn't know what it was and asked a neighbor. The neighbor thought James was kidding.
"It's a star, James," the man said. "It's a star."
As he gazed upon a star for the first time, James decided that the best way to show his gratitude was to rent a car and drive 200 miles to Boston, because he could.