Thousands go silent so blind basketball player can hear her shot
Juliana Hoogland, 17, is a high school basketball player in Michigan, who is blind. Last week, as she prepared to take a free throw, the crowd of 2,500 went completely silent. She sank the shot and the crowd went wild.
A woman who did not have vision in her right eye for as long as seven years now can see out of it again — and said she feels "superhuman."
Dante Harper, 26, of Jackson, Mississippi, hadn't been able to see anything but "blackness" out of her right eye, but today can see light and colors — and even read signs, according to SWNS.
She said a retinal hemorrhage (bleeding in the retina) caused her sudden vision loss after she suffered a blood clot
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She was still able to see out of her left eye, but given the vision loss in her right eye, she would have to turn her head to see, she shared with SWNS.
Over the past year or so, Harper noticed she began to be able to see light — and since January 2023, she’s been able to see colors, she said.
For seven years, Dante Harper was unable to see out of her right eye due to a retinal hemorrhage, as SNWS reported. Today, she's in a much better position — she can make out shapes, see colors and even read road signs. (SWNS)
She and her housemate decided to do a "test" recently: They covered her left eye and took a walk around their neighborhood to pinpoint exactly what Harper could actually see.
She said she was "freaking out" when she realized she could identify the shape of trees, could see colors — and could even read a sign.
A trip to her eye doctor in March 2023 revealed that she’s not "crazy," she said — and that her vision is returning.
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She said her doctor was unsure why her vision is now returning but said her shunt veins are redirecting light to her retina.
"I remember saying to my housemate, ‘I think I’m getting my vision back.'"
Harper, a call center representative, told SNWS, "Seven years ago I lost my eyesight. I was told it was unlikely my vision would come back. [For] the past year and these last couple of months, I have been able to detect light and then color out my right eye."
She also said, "I remember saying to my housemate, ‘I think I’m getting my vision back.'"
She said she wondered to herself, "Am I crazy? Is my brain tricking me? But the eye doctor confirmed I’m right."
Dante Harper of Mississippi (not pictured) said she asked the doctor, "When are you going to turn the machine on?" She said the health professional replied, "It's on." (iStock)
He told her he had not seen the "vision come back" to someone "with my damage before," Harper shared with SWNS.
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She summarized her situation this way: "My body is superhuman."
Applied to US Navy
Harper discovered she'd lost her vision after undergoing a routine vision test while applying for the U.S. Navy, she said.
She hadn’t realized anything was wrong — and had worn glasses since the age of nine, she said.
Said Harper, "They [began testing] my right eye and it was total blackness. I said, ‘When are you going to turn the machine on?’ And they replied, ‘It’s on.'"
She added, "I realized something was very wrong. I was in shock."
Dante Harper said she'd worn glasses since age nine — but seven years ago, she lost vision in her right eye. "Something was very wrong," she said. "I was in shock." (SWNS)
She was referred to an ophthalmologist in January 2016, who told her that she had a retinal hemorrhage and sent her to a specialist, SWNS reported.
She said, "They realized it was caused by a blood clot. They said, ‘If we hadn’t caught it now, you have lost the eyeball.’"
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She later discovered she had a genetic disorder — a protein C deficiency that increases the risk of developing blood clots. She said she was given Eylea shots to stop the bleeding in her eye — and that she had to learn to live with vision out of only one eye.
(Eylea is a drug used to treat wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), according to the American Academy of Opthamology. It is also used to treat diabetic eye disease and other problems of the retina, the academy's website says. It is injected into the eye to help slow vision loss from these and other diseases.)
"You depend on your vision. When you lose it, it puts into perspective what I have and cherish what we still have."
Harper told SWNS, "I would have to turn my head to see when driving. I wouldn’t see if you turn from the right. I’d ask people to throw to my left."
She also said, "You depend on your vision. When you lose it, it puts into perspective what I have and cherish what we still have."
"I’m thrilled," Dante Harper told SNWS about getting much of her vision back in her right eye. "Restoring vision is like printing brain matter," she said. (SWNS)
Despite coming to terms with the loss, she said it didn’t stop her from "dreaming" of her having her vision return so she could "live more normally," she told SWNS.
Then, earlier this year in January, she started to see colors and more light — and confided in her housemate about what was going on.
‘Pictures of my retina'
When her housemate took her on a walk around the neighborhood, Harper said she could "identify color and tree shapes."
She added, "We went to a lake with a boat ramp and the sign said, ‘Beware of gators’ — and I was able to read it. I was freaking out."
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When she went to her doctor in March 2023, the doctor confirmed her vision was returning.
She told SWNS, "They took pictures of my retina and it turns out it looks pretty good. The doctor said my shunt veins are redirecting light to my retina. It’s a relief – I’m not crazy. My body is doing a thing. It’s pretty cool. It’s unreal."
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Harper said she hoped she would still "gain a little bit more vision back. But I’m thrilled. Restoring vision is like printing brain matter."
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With new glasses on the way, she said there are still "a bunch of unknowns."
Even so, she said she'll see her doctor again in six months to see if her vision has changed, SWNS reported.
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