Ibrahim Kettaneh was just 10 years old when he was diagnosed with Stargardt disease, a disorder that caused macular degeneration in both of his eyes.
This creates a black hole in the focal point of his vision, and makes it difficult to make out details such as writing.
“It causes a deterioration in how far I can see and it puts a, sort of, lack of vision in the centre of my vision,” said Ibrahim.
His father, Hasan, said that it was a tough thing to watch their young son go through.
“It was really hard for us as a family. It was very challenging,” said Hasan.
However, Ibrahim was not ready to resign himself to a life with limited eyesight, and instead set his sights on a solution.
“It was kind of impossible to proceed forward without his perseverance, his resilience and his willing to move forward,” added Hasan.
And move forward he did.
Ibrahim said as he got a little older he began using the internet to help him find a solution to his problem, where he landed on the E-Sight, a technology designed specifically for people like him.
“The E-Sight has a display for each eye and it basically enables me to have a control remote where I tell the E-Sight to magnify what I want to read,” said Ibrahim.
This, as Hasan describes, has made his son unstoppable.
He graduated high school, got accepted into Queen’s University for computer science, and now he’s using his eyesight to help more people like himself.
“What he’s planning to do now is to use his university degree trying to invent and innovate in terms of genetic coding or genetic therapy,” said Hasan.
Ibrahim not only hopes that his work will help people like him, but his story as well.
“You can find the opportunities. There are opportunities hidden in plain sight and you have the power to go and pursue them,” added Ibrahim.
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