Final

Two young Utah residents Rob Spurrier, and his brother Richard Spurrier both of Sandy Utah have been battling a disease their whole lives. The disease is Retinitis Pigmatosa this disease is caused when a gene in the body attacks the retina causing full deterioration of the retina. "The doctors found the disease when i was only two years old, the disease is pretty rare currently only 20 million people have the disease" says Rob.
Rob who is currently 25 resides in cedar city a senior at Southern Utah University. "I am studying psychology, it is interesting to me, it takes me about twice as long as the person with normal eye sight to be able to read and write, but school has defiantly been worth it"says Rob. The disease will slowly take Rob and Richards eye sight some people claim this is one of the cruelest of eye diseases known. Rob who is super active still, "I enjoy the outdoors; I can do pretty much what others do, skydiving, scuba diving, auto restoration, motorcycle riding (driving), four wheelers, and pretty much anything fast".
Despite the frustrations walking around at night Rob jokes about not being able to see while out at night I trip over everything when i there is no lighting. Rob relies on friends to help him get around by driving and guiding him at night. " I served a two year Mormon mission, I have started several businesses and partnered with people on others; I also sold door to door last summer making it into the top first year representatives for my office"says Spurrier.
Retinitis Pigmatosa will eventually take both Spurriers eye sights completly. Although there isnt much news about Retintis Pigmatosa right now more is comming to light. there are several tests being conducted, using stem cells " Sight is being restored where once it wasnt even possible, a person could look up on youtube and watch several videos about the disease, it helps because people sometimes dont completly understand and it makes explaining it easier"says Spurrier.

Written by Jonathan Richards
April 19th 2009

word count: 310