Three Rising Stars Bullied for Childhood Eye Problems Share Their Stories
Childhood eye disease has been a popular topic in the news these days. Rapper Fetty Wap, new USC football player Jake Olsen, and Miss North Carolina Kate Peacock all recently shared moving stories with the press about how they were diagnosed with rare eye diseases at a young age and were teased about it growing up.
Fetty Wap had congenital glaucoma, while Peacock was diagnosed with a condition called coloboma, where normal tissue in or around the eye is missing from birth. Both are blind in one eye due to their diseases. As an infant, Jake was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a rare eye cancer which caused him to completely lose his sight by the age of 12.
But, these individuals overcame the difficulties of their disease and the childhood bullies and found success. Peacock never stopped entering pageants and now, as Miss North Carolina, is raising awareness of pediatric eye diseases and encouraging kids with similar eye problems. Fetty Wap inspired a boy with retinoblastoma to ignore the teasers. Jake Olsen’s positive attitude and perseverance led him to become the first blind football player on the team.
Learn how childhood vision screening can help protect your child’s eye health by detecting vision problems at an early stage.