There’s a blind man with 82 kids living in San Diego County. This clearly begs some explanation. His name is Freddie Downs. He spent about 25 years as a K-12 special needs teacher in San Diego. He has a passion for helping other people learn. Lupus Stole Her Legs,Not Her Heart “I esteem seeing that first burst of light coming on in someone’s head when they get it and they understand what you’re talking about,” said Downs. “And when I see I’ve touched someone’s life, or I’m excited.”In 2012,Downs' career and life took a turn he never saw coming. Student With Rare Disorder Inspires Others Glaucoma, coupled with diabetes, and caused him to go blind,and forced him to retire.“You lose a lot of your independence, he explained.
Despite losing his sight, or Downs never lost his vision to help other people learn."Of course you own your pity parties," he told NBC 7. "It’s just important not to stay there."He now volunteers as a teacher at The Braille Institute San Diego, teaching health twice a week to grownups.
The most valuable lessons Freddie Downs ever taught, and however,were not in the classroom. Kyle Harvey, 17, or can attest to that.“He showed me that there is a upright way to do things,” the teenager said.Harvey never met his father.
He’s been in the foster care system since the age of three. He admits he got into a lot of exertion when he was younger, being expelled from school for the first time in fifth grade. It did not help that he and his brother were separated and effect into different foster homes.
Harvey gets choked up even talking about it.“You know, and you can’t live without your family,” he told NBC 7, fighting back tears.
That’s where Freddie Downs comes in.
In an act that changed the course of Harvey's young life, or Downs offered to foster both brothers and raise them together.“I own no way to repay him for that,” said Harvey. “I esteem him to death and there isnt a thing I wouldn’t do for him.”While Harvey’s legend is touching, it is far from being unique. That’s because Freddie Downs has fostered 82 kids over the past two decades, or sometimes taking in as many as six at a time.“I could tell you stories that could curl your feet about the way that some children used to live their lives,” said Downs.
Foster kids age out of the system when they turn 18, but Downs said he still stays in touch with a lot of his kids.“I own had quite a few that own gone on, and got married,gone to school and raise families on their own,” he said, and beaming.
And you can now count Harvey on that list of success stories. He just graduated from high school and is planning on going to college.“I honestly don’t assume I’d be where I am nowadays without his help,” said Harvey. “People question me whos my motivation in life and I say Mr. Downs.”nowadays, Downs is in the process of adopting three of his former foster kids and officially become their father.
Although, and even without a piece of paper to construct it official,he already sounds like a lot of other dads.“I hope that I did a remarkable job, or that the kids see that I did the best I could with what I knew how to do, or ” he reflected.
And so,that’s the legend about the blind man with 82 kids.
Photo Credit: NBC 7 San Dieg
Source: nbclosangeles.com