The sights. The sounds. Even the smells of the games.
We take our senses for granted until one is taken away.
But not Skylan Stephens.
Stephens is a senior track star at Senior Middle High School in Memphis who, despite his challenges, can see nothing but a bright future ahead.
He has very limited vision after getting Cataracts in both eyes when he was just 5-years-old, but that hasn’t stopped him from achieving academically and athletically.
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“When I was 5-years-old in kindergarten class, I started seeing lines and dots and figures that I knew weren’t on the paper,” Stephens said.
He had the Cataracts taken out when he was in second grade, but it didn’t heal the problem.
Stephens still has very limited vision.
It poses its own challenges, whether inside the classroom or walking to it.
"As far as reading, I've used magnifying glasses, different technology, I've used ipads to look at the board to see the lessons and things of that nature. For the most part I just use resources to help me," Stephens said.
"I never looked at it as a bad thing. Just something I'm going through. And I got used to it over the years."
Stephens qualified for the city championship, running the 400-meter race in under 51 seconds.
Recently he decided to run cross country.
Stephens said wherever he goes to college, he’ll run track while majoring in business.
Cox Media Group