'I thought, 'I'm not going to show her an elephant in a book, I'm going to take her to see a real elephant,' the mom explains. 'And I'm going to fill her visual memory with the best, most beautiful images…
By Tamara Hardingham-Gill, CNN Their daughter Mia was just three years old when Canadian couple Edith Lemay and Sebastien Pelletier first noticed that she was having vision problems.
"There's nothing you can really do," says Lemay, explaining that there is currently no cure or effective treatment to slow down the progression of retinitis pigmentosa. "I thought, 'I'm not going to show her an elephant in a book, I'm going to take her to see a real elephant," she explains."And I'm going to fill her visual memory with the best, most beautiful images I can."
"That was like a little gift from life," admits Lemay, who works in healthcare logistics."Like, here's the money for your trip." Before they set off, the Lemay-Pelletier family created something of a bucket list of experiences for their travel. According to Lemay, Mia wanted to go horseback riding, while Laurent wanted to drink juice on a camel.They began their trip in Namibia, where they got up close to elephants, zebras and giraffes, before heading to Zambia and on to Tanzania, and then flying to Turkey, where they spent a month. The family then made their way to Mongolia, before moving on to Indonesia.
According to the National Eye Institute, part of the US National Institutes of Health, an agency of the US Department of Health and Human Services, retinitis pigmentosa symptoms usually begin in childhood, and most people eventually lose most of their sight. "My little one asked me, 'Mommy, what does it mean to be blind? Am I going to drive a car?'" says Lemay."He's five. But slowly, he's understanding what's happening. It was a normal conversation for him. But for me, it was heart-wrenching."
"They're super-curious," she says."They easily adapt to new countries and new food. I'm very impressed with them." The family have been chronicling their trip via social media, posting regular updates on their Facebook and Instagram accounts. "And somehow they're kind of part of the trip with us. To be able to share this with other people is a really nice gift that I'm really grateful for. That makes me really happy."
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