Posted on May.27, 2009, under Inspirational Stories
Read her Life Story below:
Edythe Piccione is a young at heart senior citizen and a professional artist. Edythe has been painting for 28 years, and five years ago she was diagnosed with Macular Degeneration. Edythe was worried she would not be able to paint the same way again.
Piccione read about Dr. Scott Hearing’s practice and his low vision success with macular degeneration. Edythe made an appointment to see Dr. Hearing, and he showed her the Merlin. Edythe loved the Merlin and now uses it everyday. Edythe said, “My Merlin is my friend and companion-it is wonderful. Merlin is the easiest and quickest low vision system I have ever worked with, and it has allowed me to continue painting as a professional artist. I would never do without my Merlin even for a week-if I moved I would want my Merlin to arrive first before anything else.”
Piccione uses Merlin to look at what she is painting and does a rough sketch; she then marks a map of the colors. Once this is done, Piccione begins to paint. Edythe found that the Merlin enabled her to paint even faster and see truer colors. Edythe states, “The most wonderful thing I find is the ease of use and true color with Merlin. I can see quickly what I could not see before-for me, Merlin is a life saver.”
Edythe continues to paint professionally and recently painted a mural for Dr. Scott Hearing’s new Low Vision clinic in Florida. The picture typifies her and Dr. Hearing’s motto that is, “After life itself, the greatest gift that God gives us is vision.” The painting depicts small children playing happily by the ocean, under the blue sky; but they have no eyelids. From the top of the painting comes a hand with a ray of light, and from each of the five fingers the children are given their sight back.