Amaroo Primary School student Jarryd Stanley was awarded the Lions Children of Courage Award 2018 for showing exceptional courage despite facing the challenge of being blind.
The 12-year-old is a high achiever and an avid reader of braile and audio books, often reading advanced novels for his age like the DaVinci Code.
Jarryd was born with a heredity disease, familial exudative vitreoretinopathy, otherwise known as FEVR, which affects the growth and development of blood vessels in the retina which can lead to visual impairment or complete blindness.
His mother Jessica Stanley said she was proud of her son and that by receiving this award it shows him that he was valued in society.
“He is quite humble when it comes to awards because he doesn’t think he is deserving as other kids. I was quite proud and it’s good because it shows him that he is valued, even though he can’t see he is very bright and does very well,” she said.
“He was born with a bit of vision and then when he was seven years old he lost the last of it so he can only see a bit of light, no shapes, no nothing, just can tell if the sun is out or not.”
His uncle Stuart also shares the incredibly rare disease with him.