(Photo by: Adalyn Sparks)

“It took me becoming blind to see how bright my future is,” said Dillon Tarn, a student at JCCC who went blind at the age of sixteen. Tarn’s optic nerve was severed  after a 9mm handgun went off in his face, causing him to lose his left eye. He was rushed to a hospital in Wichita, where they were unable to perform the surgery he needed. He was then sent off to KU Med for surgery, where he began his month-long recovery.

Tarn received overwhelming support from his community. They sent him their love, cards, and lots of food.

“They were bringing food left and right,” he said. Once discharged from the hospital, Tarn sat down with his parents while they read aloud all the cards he’d collected from his community. Before the accident, Tarn says he was “running with the wrong crowd,” and wasn’t sure of what he wanted to do in his life. Losing his sight was a wake-up call.

Healing consisted of relearning everything he had already known how to do. Tarn had to start his life over as a teenager, but he kept a positive attitude. The only thing he can’t do is drive a car. Living without sight can be expensive when it comes to transportation. Uber and Lyft fees add up, and free transportation can be unreliable at times for Tarn, but he still finds a way.

Opposite to his life before the accident, Tarn has become closer to God, regularly attending bible study and giving grace to God. After going from college to college, Tarn settled at JCCC, completing his associate’s degree in general studies. He is now pursuing another degree in elementary education.

Tarn volunteers at Alphapointe Association of the Blind, located in Kansas City, Missouri. Their mission is “to empower people with vision loss to achieve their goals and aspirations.” Through this association, Tarn helps visually-impaired kids learn to cook by creating lesson plans for the children who are a part of the Kids in the Kitchen program.

Although Tarn’s life took a major turn after his accident, he was still able to recover with the help of his community, God, family, and his own resilience. He is able to live an independent life, doing things he loves like cooking and helping others like him achieve that lifestyle.