Alex Coleman @Its_GalPalAl [Executive Web Editor]
Imagine never being able to see anything but pitch black. No more looking at the green buds on the tips of the freshly reviving trees for them. No faces of a best friend. Imagine relying on another’s eyesight to deal with any day to day tasks. This is the life of Brett Wheeler, a sophomore at Marion High School. According to his mother, Jennifer Wheeler, the most comforting thing about Brett’s condition is he was born with it. “He’s never seen, so he doesn’t know what he’s missing. The whole world is beautiful to Brett,” explained Mrs. Wheeler.
Born at 23 weeks, the doctors did not expect Wheeler to live past five minutes. Once he did, there were some obvious health problems to go along with the miracle. “Brett was on a feeding tube for eleven and a half years,” said Mrs. Wheeler. For the entirety of those years, young Wheeler spent two days a week at eating therapy, trying to figure out a solution to the problem: his lack of ability to eat with his mouth. They’d tried everything they could possibly think of, but nothing seemed to work. Finally, his therapist had an idea, remembering in 2012, Brett started developing an obsession with something that was taking the world by storm-One Direction. He listened to their music relentlessly, finding a comfort in throwing himself into the catchy melodies. “My favorite song is Little Things,” Wheeler stated, “it’s just so beautiful. I love the sound of the guitar; sometimes I don’t understand how people can play and make it sound so pretty.”
One day, Wheeler’s therapist went to find her laptop, and on nothing but a whim began to type in something that would change his life forever. “She just google searched One Direction’s favorite foods. She went down the list of all of them, but all I can remember is her first saying that Harry’s favorite was sweet corn. I don’t even know if that’s true or not, all that mattered is that Brett wanted to try it. His therapist was kind of like ‘oh, well we’ve got some corn here if you want some’, and right then that day, Brett ate for the first time,” Mrs. Wheeler commented. After an understandable amount of tears, and an overwhelming sense of joy, they began to undergo the task of continuing down this new and exciting path. Within a few months, Wheeler had tried every food on the list, and then some. He even developed favorite foods of his own and a hatred towards chocolate. Before they knew it, they were able to take the device out. “He requested that Little Things be playing in the background as they were removing the tube, and after a whole lot of us both crying and praying, the tube was out. After that, I guess the best way to explain it is that he prayed to One Direction, and out loud he said ‘Thank you for inspiring me in everything and changing my life’,” Mrs. Wheeler went on to say.
The phenomenon did not stop there. After the therapeutic treatment worked in one area of Wheeler’s life, other people began to have a few ideas of their own. “Brett struggled with learning braille for a really long time. One of his Special Ed teachers at the school heard about how One Direction had worked for the feeding tube, and decided if it could work there, why couldn’t it work for learning braille? She told him that for every sentence he could decode in braille, he would get one random fact about One Direction. I think you can guess who’s a whiz at braille now,” Mrs. Wheeler joked.
Although removing the feeding tube and becoming better at braille were definitely more major points in Wheeler’s life, One Direction hasn’t failed to aid in other smaller aspects. “Brett has a pretty bad stutter, but his speech therapist has this app that she uses during their sessions that allow him to talk out the songs, and when he does this he doesn’t stutter. It’s beyond amazing, everything this band has done for Brett is unheard of,” Mrs. Wheeler said. One Direction has also given Wheeler something he feels he can relate to other people with. “Before One Direction he basically lived in his room, he didn’t want to socialize with anyone. Now he’s always talking to people, asking who their favorite member is as if everyone’s favorite band is One Direction. The band has given him some sort of new confidence,” Mrs. Wheeler commented.
As many other One Direction fans often do, Wheeler has dreamed about meeting them. Not so surprisingly, his reasoning is a little bit deeper than just wanting to be in the same room as his idols. “I would tell them all one by one, first Louis because he’s my favorite, then Niall, Harry, and Liam that I’m proud of them as a band for getting to be this big. I would also tell them how much they’ve changed my life in so many different ways, for example the tube,” Wheeler explained. Mrs. Wheeler went on to say that he would probably cry if he met the band, just because they mean so much to him, and he’d probably end up trying to tell them everything all at once. “I’d also scream and maybe faint if I ever met them,” Wheeler said laughing.
While dealing with everyday annoyances-like people not saying “excuse me” when they trip over his cane or the one’s that make comments under their breath about his condition-Wheeler never fails to have a smile on his face. “These kids teach us more about sincerity and love than any others. They’re almost the lucky ones actually. By not seeing all of the violence and hate that goes on in today’s world, everything is just beautiful to them. In the end, blindness almost isn’t a disability, just something we have to deal with,” Mrs. Wheeler stated. While others continue to believe that his lack of eyesight might slow him down, Wheeler enjoys spending his free time bowling, playing on his phone, but most importantly to him, listening to One Direction. Whether it’s their newest music, the stuff they released four years ago, or even an interview on TV, Wheeler will never stop loving this band. So for now, Wheeler sticks to listening to Little Things on full blast in his room, hoping that maybe someday, he’ll be allowed the honor of meeting his heroes.
** tweet at Ellen, Good Morning America, and One Direction with the hashtag #GetBrettTo1D on Wednesday the 20th and Thursday the 21st to really fill their Twitter feeds!
