MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. – Since I can remember, I have always struggled with my sight. My vision was horrible since birth and had affected every aspect of my childhood growing up. My grades in school were terrible, participating in sports was a challenge and even every-day ordinary activities were frustrating.

For the longest time, I thought this was normal and didn’t even realize I had a problem.

As a child, it seemed no one else knew what to do with me either. My parents would try everything to help me do better in school, but to no avail. My coach would explain plays in detail, but my hands would still fail to catch the football and my interest in things most children loved was just not there.

It seemed this was just the way things were. ”Everyone must be this way but maybe they are just better at doing these things than me,” I thought.

Luckily, this was not the case. The day we realized what was wrong was the day my life changed forever…

Read the rest of Airman 1st Class Collin Schmidt’s story