BY MICHELLE BOURG

E J Scott sees the world through a very small window. Legally blind, his peripheral vision is gone, his sight limited to a tiny field directly in front of him. And

that field is growing smaller, the dark ring lurking around it gradually closing in. Eventually, unless medical science finds a way to intervene, that ring of darkness will close complete­ly-and permanently. Scott's fight to help find that interven­tion takes the form of running and is the subject of a recent 30-minute documentary entitled "Running Blind."

Scott's blindness is caused by a condition called Choroi­deremia (CHM), a rare genetic disorder exclusive to males that causes degeneration of the eye. Starting in childhood, it progresses from night blindness to vision loss in the form of

16 OCTOB ER 2013 WINGFOOT

an irregular ring that gradually expands both in and outward across the field of vision. Loss of acuity, depth perception, color perception and increasingly severe night blindness may also occur. Scott was diagnosed with CHM in 2003; his grandfather lost his sight to it in his 40s and his brother and two nephews currently have it.

To bring attention to the disease and raise funds for re­search, Scott decides to run 12 marathons from January to December 2012 . It's an unexpected move for him; a former smoker with weight issues, Scott is sedentary and has trou­ble with the concept of exercise at all until hitting upon the idea of running for pledges for the Choroideremia Research Foundation. The first hurdle his plan faces is the pre-training physical, during which he has to spell the name of his condi­tion to his doctor. Once he gets the OK, he doggedly hits the treadmill and gets started. His weight remains a struggle, but over the course of the year he loses 70 pounds and finds he "prefers being healthy."

As Scott's first race, the Phoenix Marathon, approaches, the combination of excitement and nerves caught on cam­era is palpable. Sunlight aggravates Scott's condition, so in a ritual both stoic and moving, he wraps a blindfold around his head just before taking the hand or guide line of his guide runner and crossing the start.

From there, the treadmill runs and the races continue to alternate, with Scott experiencing the life of a marathon runner in a concentrated burst. His condition gives him a unique perspective on the crush of unseen spectators lin­ing his route; he says wonderingly, "It sounds like they're being murdered by noisemakers and cowbells." Although he insists, ''I'm not a runner, I'm not an exerciser, I'm not an athlete," his competitive nature kicks in and he begins to focus on improving his times.

But he also encounters the tough side of marathon run­ning as the cycle of training and events takes its emotional toll. Exhaustion creeps in, goal times become elusive and fundraising lags-even before Hurricane Sandy forces the cancellation of his penultimate event, the ING New York City Marathon. His anxiety is clear, and he reminds the viewer that it's not a lark for him: "I do this out of panic and desperation . . . I don't want to go blind." He is a man running for many finish lines, and the cameras are unre­lenting as he breaks down in tears at the realization that he may not make all of them.

Finally, December arrives and with it Scott's last mar-

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athon, the Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon. The event finishes af­ter dark, so for the first time Scott can take off the blindfold and look around him. He has, at last, made it, and along the way raised $14,000 and incalculable awareness of a virtually unknown disease. He has be­come a much different person from the one who toed that first start line a year before.

In addition to following Scott on his running journey, "Running Blind" takes the viewer inside the research labs and hospitals where an­other race is being run- the one for a cure. The finish line is tantalizing­ly close, remarkable for a disease that only 10 years ago was considered hopeless and lacked even a test for diagnosis . It also visits Executive Director of the Choroideremia Research Foundation Cory MacDonald, a CHM patient himself who runs the Foundation as a labor oflove.

Reflecting on his odyssey, Scott's words are simple, but apply to any­one with a goal and the passion to achieve it: "It's amazing what ~u

can do when you convince yourself you can do it." ~"!'

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