Parents create 'visual bucket list' for their daughter with rare eyesight condition

The parents of a five-year-old girl with a rare genetic condition that may eventually cause her to go blind have given her a "visual bucket list" of things to do while she can still see.

Elizabeth Myers, from Bellville in Ohio, is expected to progressively lose both her eyesight and hearing after she was diagnosed with Usher syndrome type II.

Her parents Steve and Christine Myers have now put together a list - to be completed in the next five to seven years - of things their daughter needs to see.

The list includes visiting landmarks like the Grand Canyon, Niagra Falls, Yellowstone National Park, but also simple things, like looking at the night sky and sunsets on the beach.

Mr Myers told the Mansfield News Journal he wants to give her the chance to catch lightning bugs and look up at the Northern Lights.

He said he would never have known she even had the condition if they hadn't agreed to genetic testing, which was suggested by her doctor after she was diagnosed with hearing loss.

“If they hadn’t pushed us for genetic testing, we would never have known what’s to come for Lizzy,” Mr Myers said. “Then it would have been too late.”

He said he hopes their story encourages other parents who notice vision or hearing loss in their children to have them tested.

On Tuesday night last week they took Elizabeth to the Warren Rupp Observatory in Ohio to let her look at the moon and stars through a telescope.

Elizabeth, who isn't aware of her condition yet, was thrilled when she spotted Saturn.

“I see it, I see it,” she shouted, jumping up and down.

“It looks like an oval that’s colored all in.”