Francis was 18 years old, a college athlete, and since childhood had seen the world in muted tones because of severe color blindness. He never knew what a sunset really looked like, or an autumn leaf, or the grass on the field where he trains every day.
His teammates knew. And in secret they pooled money to buy him a pair of EnChroma glasses, the kind that cost hundreds of dollars and help people perceive colors accurately. They waited for the exact right moment: autumn, just before the campus trees lost their leaves, so Fran could see the change of season for the first time in his life.
They surprised him surrounded by colorful balloons. As soon as he put on the glasses, his eyes filled with tears so quickly that he could barely see anything. His friends, laughing, asked him not to take them off, to wait for his eyes to adjust. The first thing Fran clearly made out was a simple yellow leaf. He said the color “jumped” out at him like he had never imagined. Something so ordinary for everyone else became, for him, the gift of a lifetime.