‘Our blind son helped us see’

BLIND SAM BEATS THE ODDS

Sam Valavanis doesn’t hesitate when asked what he wants to be when he is older.

‘An anaesthetist,’ he says, with a winning smile. ‘I think it’d be a great job.’

And, as anyone who knows the courageous 14-year-old will confirm, there’s every chance Sam will realise his dream, for he has never let anything stop him in life, inspiring everyone he meets along the way.

At 12 weeks old, Sam was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in both eyes known as bilateral retinoblastoma. While specialists at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital did all they could to save Sam’s sight, his left eye had to be removed at age three. Eighteen months later, when the tumours in his right eye failed to respond to

treatment, his second eye was removed. Both were replaced with prosthetic eyes.

‘Nothing could have prepared us for the diagnosis,’ says Sam’s mother Lisa, who with husband Jim has two younger children, Mitchell, 10, and Caitlin, four.

Over the past decade, the family have adjusted to a life they had never envisaged. Along with setbacks, there have been many moments of joy and laughter.

‘At first, Sam would say: “I wish the doctors could make me see again – I don’t like being blind,”’ Lisa says. ‘But then he said: “If I wasn’t blind, I couldn’t do braille and I like braille.” He’s always made the best of things.’

Sam – now healthy and happily enjoying high school – has given his parents strength.

‘When he was little and we were going through a lot of the hard times, we’d think: “How are we going to deal with this?”’ Lisa says. ‘Then we’d look at Sam and think: “Well, he’s just getting on with the job at hand and we have to do the same.”’

Determined to give hope to families in similar situations, Lisa and Jim have written a book, Life Through Sam’s Eyes: How Our Blind Son Helped Us See..., with 10 per cent of all sales going to the Starlight Children’s Foundation.

Lisa says: ‘Our greatest wish for Sam is that he has the strength to lead whatever life he wants.’

A heartbreaking diagnosis led this Victorian boy and his family down a path of love and courage

FIGHTING CHILDHOOD CANCER

An avid braille reader of everything from Harry Potter to books by top Aussie author Paul Jennings, plucky Sam has always loved life. ‘I think it’s because I’ve got such a lovely family, who always try to help me and make things good for me,’ he says,...