News

Actions

Family opens eyeglass store for nearly blind son

Posted at 5:01 PM, Oct 24, 2018
and last updated 2018-10-24 17:01:30-04

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- A family dealing with a shocking diagnosis for their son is finding a way to turn it into a positive. They started a company to help others just like him, and are already impacting the lives of thousands of kids.

Jonas Paul Harrison was born with Peter's Anomaly, a rare disorder that causes near blindness. Twenty-one surgeries later, he can finally see, but he requires a walking stick and glasses.

His parents Ben and Laura soon found that glasses that were kid-friendly and cool were hard to find, so they opened Jonas Paul Eyewear.  It has helped Jonas and thousands of other kids feel beautiful in their glasses.

"We felt so helpless with his situation that we used this kind of like a creative outlet to create something that we felt like would help him but also help other parents with kids with visual impairments at various levels," Ben Harrison said.

Since opening in 2013, they say they've helped about 25,000 kids overcome the stigma of wearing glasses while donating eyesight-boosting vitamin A supplements to children around the world.  More information about the business is available on their website.