Many people do not know that some 2,000 to 3,000 Americans suffer from a very rare inherited genetic blindness. This blindness is caused from a mutation in the RPE65 gene, which is located in the retina and makes a protein that is critical for normal vision. You inherit two of these genes from your parents. One from your mother and one from your father. This genetic blindness occurs when both the genes that are inherited contain mutations. This is why it is so rare. The patients first see signs of this blindness in infancy. The first thing to occur is development of tunnel vision and this can lead to total blindness as this mutation stays present. There is currently no drug to treat this disease, but hopefully that's about to change. On October
