A South Australian teenager who is losing her eyesight to Rod-Cone Dystrophy visited Adelaide Zoo today to tick a number of items off her ‘visual bucket list’.
Thirteen-year-old Maiah McWaters has been progressively losing her eyesight since she was born.
Diagnosed with the condition at age ten, doctors believe the teenager will go completely blind within the next few years.
Along with this condition, she has also recently been diagnosed with epilepsy.
The teenager has a modest ‘visual bucket list’ of things to see before she goes blind and is raising funds for her family to travel to the Gold Coast for the first time.
An avid animal lover, Maiah dreams of becoming a zoo keeper when she grows up.
When Maiah learned she would one day be completely blind, she told her mum she might have to re-assess her dream of becoming a zoo keeper.
“I won’t be able to work with the lions now. I will have to pick something easier like the meerkats,” Maiah said.
Carnivore keeper Matt Daly took Maiah behind the scenes to feed our African Lions.
“Maiah certainly has the temperament to become a keeper at Adelaide Zoo, she was very brave and didn’t flinch when the lionesses roared.”
As part of the special visit, Maiah also met with Adelaide Zoo keepers and got up close to our Meerkats and hand-fed our Little Penguins.
Maiah’s story reminds us all to appreciate the wonder of the natural world.
To support Maiah’s ‘visual bucket list’, please click here.
