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At a South Granville High School football game, Shackelford and his friend Tom Hasketh are positioned behind a fence not far from the players’ sidelines. The Vikings of South Granville take against the Firebirds in varsity football at Southern Nash High School. Red and blue teams are playing in floodlights.
“Do I have to pedal again?” he asks Husketh.
“Yes, it is,” he says, Mr. Shackelford. A Viking brass band starts a drum roll. The noise reaches a climax as the fans yell at the team. I can’t get enough of the tension.
“Go, go,” says Shackleford.
“And then there’s the kick,” he says.
The referee whistles. The drumroll reaches a climax and cuts off abruptly.
For fans who regularly watch South Granville football games, Hasketh and Shackleford are a familiar sight. However, when you get close to them, you’ll notice two things: Hasketh is blind, and Shackleford is talking to him bit by bit.
In the 1950s, doctors didn’t realize that too much oxygen in incubators could lead to blindness. This can lead to retrolental fibrosis, which occurs in infants with low birth weight, but is most common in preterm infants.
Hasketh’s retina was damaged, and although he could distinguish between day and night, he could not see shapes or most colors.