LIFE can change in a matter of seconds and for Tuart Hill resident Kye Portelli (15), this was made a reality when he was told he would go blind – and there was no cure.
The Newman College Year 9 student is your average teen who loves footy and hanging out with his mates.
It was not until a day at school in June this year, during NAPLAN testing, that Kye realised something was not quite right with his eyesight.
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READ NOW“The only thing looking back before finding out about my diagnosis was I had a little trouble seeing at night,” he said.
Mum Jeana Portelli said her son went for tests and was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa.
“He will lose his vision in both eyes,” she said.
“The words of no cure, I don’t know how I got in my car and drove home that day.”
Retinitis Pigmentosa is an eye disease where the retina, located at the back of the eye, starts to degenerate slowly and progressively.
Mrs Portelli said the degenerative eye disease was genetic but her and husband Sheldon had no history of it.
Her two friends, Carolyn Pavlenko and Natascha King, set up a fundraising page ‘Kye’s Fight for Sight’ in an effort to help the family raise $30,000 for treatment.
They also organised a Back to the ‘80s and ‘90s fundraising night on October 20 in Marist Auditorium at Newman College.
Tickets are $30 from https://bit.ly/2PlTjXy.
“We don’t have private health cover,” Mrs Portelli said.
“I want to travel to California with my son where he can be prescribed vitamins to keep his eye healthy and to also participate in micro therapy which will stimulate his eye lid and back of the eye.”
The family have currently raised more than $10,700.
To donate go to https://bit.ly/2QqSVXQ.