ican Stories

Matt is a vision of inspiration.
Matthew was a patient at Albert Einstein years ago and his parents were founding ican members. Now, Matthew uses the pool as a shift from an insular environment to the real world. He was recently featured in a Delaware County, PA newspaper. more...

A Drummer in the Marching Band!
Jacob (born with bilateral anophthalmia) is a 12 year old 6th grader attending his local, public middle school. He has always loved music and when opportunity came to pick an instrument in 5th grade he said, “Sign me up”! more...

Hi, my name is Hannah.  I was born with a little eye called Microphthalmia and Coloboma.  I also have a one inch cyst behind my little eye.  I can see out of my big eye just fine.  I  have a tiny coloboma on the optic nerve in the big eye.   It doesn’t cause any problems so far. more...

On October 28th 2001, our second child, Alexander Gamino was born. Having had a perfectly smooth and healthy pregnancy we didn’t expect any complications. We were ecstatic! But the bad news came a day after Alex’s birth when we noticed that our little Alex was still not opening one of his eyes. more...

Sept 24, 1999, our second child was born.  A beautiful baby boy.  My first look at Wyatt and I thought, “He looks just like his older brother Blake.”  Just like Blake, except something was different.  Not a bad kind of different, just different.  We wouldn’t find out what the “different” was for hours to come.  more...

Madilyn's Story
Hi! My name is Madilyn and I was born with bilateral anophthalmia. I am two years old now. I also have been diagnosed with Arrhinia Syndrome, which means my nose and other facial features didn't fully develop. more...

Jacob Orion  (JAKE) was born on 5/26/04 after a complicated delivery.  We were ecstatic to have our beautiful little boy finally in our arms.  The pediatrician immediately referred several specialists to examine Jake because his face looked "dysmorphic." more...

On April 1st, 2006, our son Mason was born. We found out when Mason was 6 days old that our baby boy was blind due to bilateral Microphthalmia and coloboma. We had no idea and we were truly devastated. Blind? What does that mean? We asked all the questions. Is there surgery? Glasses? Transplants? more...

Our Beautiful Angel sent from Heaven Above!
I am the mother of three beautiful, wonderful children, two boys and one little girl. On January 12, little Audrey Rose was born! J I had some complications during pregnancy and we were told that she had severe heart defects. more...

My name is Brittany Amber Crouch, and I am currently living in Port St. John, FL. I was born with primary Anophthalmia, meaning that i have only one eye. At 17 years old, I have many hobbies. I love all sports, mostly football. I play it all the time, along with Rugby (a new favorite). I like to be outdoors, always going places. I'm the bubbly, social butterfly among my friends. more...

The Salatto Family
When you have a baby your whole life changes instantly. You now have a little person who needs you and your love twenty-four hours a day. When our son Collin was born our whole life changed instantly, not only because he was in the world and needed us but because he needed our eyes to help him see the world. more...