Tod and Justin Purvis are brothers who are both slowly going blind. The two suffer from a rare degenerative eye disease known as Choroideremia. The disease begins during childhood, but usually leaves the sufferer blind sometime during adulthood.
In 2010, they decided they wanted to see America before Choroideremia took their eyesight. Although they lived on different sides of the country, they teamed up for an epic road trip. Their journey took them 13,000 across America…
And they documented the whole thing.
Tod, 43, (left) and Justin, 38, (right) are both slowly losing their eyesight to Choroideremia, a degenerative disease that eventually leaves the sufferer blind. Tod still has half of his vision, while Justin only has about 15 percent of his vision left. They both experience tunnel vision.
They set off on a road trip to see the sights across America before they both could no longer see.
The goal of the trip for Tod and Justin was to find the country’s most picturesque spots.
Tod enjoying the Nevada dessert.
The two drove the whole way in a Ford Escape. Justin is declared legally blind, so Tod drove.
Hanging out with snakes.
What cross country trip would be complete without a small film crew to document the journey? They brothers filmed their trip and made a documentary about it.
The documentary was released last year and won numerous awards. It is available for rental or purchase on Vimeo.
Now that their American road trip is complete, Tod and Justin say they still want to get out there and see more of the world.
“I want to see everything – it’s not just landmarks, it’s museums and art galleries. It’s not just America – we want to see the world,” said Tod.
Justin enjoying himself at a wine tasting along their journey.
Choroideremia, the disease Tod and Justin suffer from, affects about 1 in every 50,000 people. It mostly occurs in males.
“If I do love my vision,” said Tod. “I will miss the sight of sunsets the most.”
It’s revealed at the end of the film that the brothers’ eyesight is actually much worse than they thought. They started filming thinking that both Tod and Justin had at least half of their eyesight, but that was not the case. This is where the film gets the name Driving Blind. They were pretty much driving legally blind the whole time.
Here are a couple of trailers for Driving Blind.
Via: The Daily Mail
That is such an amazing journey, even if it was a bit dangerous toward the end. You can learn more about Tod, Justin, and their documentary here.
