- It's the 40th anniversary of the Affiliated Blind of Louisiana, a school teaching individuals with vision impairments how to navigate through life.
- For one man, he has found fulfillment and strength attending this facility after suffering from a random attack that would cause him to go blind.
Peppi Underwood is 42 years-old and is a client over at Affiliated Blind of Louisiana, however he didn't always have a vision impairment.
One day in 2004 would changed his life forever.
"I was walking to my car and some guys I didn't even know attacked me and my head hit a SUV from behind and also it hit the concrete and it pitched my optic nerve, I had to learn everything again," Underwood.
He ran track at Southern University before where he was inducted into Hall of Fame but after the attack, he completely lost his vision, suffered memory loss and his dreams of becoming a track star were gone.
"Like why me? Like I thought I was a pretty good person, I didn't do anything to harm anybody. I always try to motivate people."
Then just a few years later close to $90,000 was raised so that he could Travel to China in 2009, to receive life changing stem cell transfusion.
"I was listening to the news at my house and they were talking about stem cells, how it would heal the nerves in your body and everything," he says.
Underwood would go on to receive 6 stem cell transfusions and would slowly regain his vision.
Not long after that, he was back on the tracks and even placing in some meets.
"I'm still competitive and I'm beating those guys and they were in shape and I was like "ok" I still got it. It was fun being out there competing again," he says. "So long as you God first and don't let anybody stop from doing what you wanna do."
Underwood hopes to obtain his masters degree in occupational therapy to help others also achieve their goals.
