Cradled in his fathers arms, overcome with tears streaming down his cheeks, Jeff Belge had two questions:
Am I going to lose my eye? Will I ever play baseball again?
Belge, 9 years old at the time, and his cousin were skipping stones when he accidentally was hit squarely in the right eye with a rock that had slipped from his cousins hand, shattering his cornea. His eye became deflated like a balloon, white puss oozing out of it.
Fast forward seven years later, Belge is at a hotel in Atlanta, rough-housing with teammates after a long day of summer league baseball games. One of the Syracuse natives teammates accidentally sticks his finger in the same right eye, undoing the two surgeries from the first incident, and rupturing the globe in his eye. It had become deflated again.
You have to prepare yourself that we may have to remove his eye, his mother Karen was told by one doctor.
Yet, here he is, two traumatic experiences later, still pitching, an integral part of one of the best baseball teams in St. Johns history, a 6-foot-5 southpaw who throws mid-90s heat and has a professional future.
Belge is legally blind in his right eye, which was saved. The freshman can only see some colors and outlines of objects, relying solely on the left eye, in which he has 20/25 vision. But he doesnt see it as a limitation. It has been that way since he was 9. Its who he is.
I find ways around it, said Belge, who wears protective glasses. It doesnt really bother me.
Its just me having a dream and just following it. Its a bump along the way I had to get over.
After the first incident, doctors couldnt tell him if baseball was going to be part of his future. He had to miss a month of school. He didnt bother asking after the first few times. He didnt need anyone to answer the question for him.
I just told myself I was going to play, Belge said. I got on the field as soon as I could.
He started the road back with his little league coach, who would hit him tennis balls in the outfield, so he could get used to using just the one eye without fear of hurting himself. Belge would spend hours with his dad at the local park, pitching and hitting, training himself like he was learning the sport from scratch. When he got back into games, nearly a year later, he didnt think about the eye.
His focus was that intense. The injury had given him big-time motivation, determination, to push through things, he said.
If anything was a challenge, his father Tom said, it was trying to slow him down.
Belge made the Henninger High School varsity as a seventh grader, was also a standout basketball player and played quarterback for a season. He made it onto major league scouts radar as a sophomore, after striking out 11 opposite Scott Blewett, a second-round pick in 2014.
Belge was nearly a top draft pick despite the second incident costing him most of the summer prior to his senior year of high school, depriving him of several notable showcases in front of scouts.
The Red Sox, Brewers and Royals all offered Belge significant money in the third round, according to his father, money they turned down. Still, the Red Sox drafted him in the 32nd round as a courtesy.
I certainly hope in two years hes a Red Sox, said Ray Fagnant, the Red Sox area scout who followed him in high school. Hes a kid you always root for. Nothing is ever going to scare him.
The family liked the idea of him attending St. Johns, believing the experience of living in New York City and continuing to develop was too good to pass up. That bond with the Queens school grew in the summer before his senior year, following the incident. Depressed he was going to miss the showcases and unable to do much of anything baseball-related for six weeks, Belge sunk into depression. He was being forced to relive the traumatic accident from his childhood. All the work he had put in, all the time he spent staring down adversity, felt like a waste.
It put me in a bad place mentally, he said.
Pitching coach Corey Muscara, his lead recruiter, made sure to stay in close contact with Belge. Muscara would call him almost daily and suggest goals making his bed, losing a pound of weight per week, finishing a book as a way for him to keep active. It wasnt forgotten when it came time to make a decision about his future. It set it in stone, Wow, this guy really has my best interest at heart, Belge recalled.
Though Belge said he isnt thrilled with his performance this year on the mound hes 3-3 with a 5.13 ERA in nine starts the southpaw has been an integral part to one of the best teams in program history, just three wins shy of the most in St. Johns history. He has been a weekend starter as a freshman for the nationally-ranked Red Storm, with freshman Nick Mondak missing almost the entire year due to arm trouble and Kevin Magee just returning from his own injury.
I dont know how he does it, Mondak said of his teammate pitching with vision in only one eye. Its amazing.
Belge doesnt see it that way. This always has been his goal: to play baseball at a high level, and one day reach the major leagues.
The two accidents didnt change that. He expects a lot of himself, and remains confident he can be a major factor for St. Johns (40-9) in next weeks Big East Tournament and the NCAA Tournament that follows. He already has overcome so much, a few poor outings wont do much to that belief.
He doesnt take anything for granted, Karen said. When you have setbacks and have things taken from you, a lot of kids wouldve crumbled. A lot of kids wouldnt say I can do this again, maybe be scared of the mound, be afraid to get hurt. Not Jeffrey.
Its made Jeffrey a much stronger-willed person. It wasnt going to own him, and it didnt.
See the article here:
'Am I going to lose my eye?': St. John's star overcomes blindness - New York Post
- AI has perfect detection rate for severe cases of condition that causes blindness in preemies - OHSU News - March 10th, 2024
- PulseSight launches with gene therapy platform targeting age-related blindness - Longevity.Technology - March 10th, 2024
- AIOS and RANZCO Unite to Combat Preventable Blindness - Hindustan Times - March 10th, 2024
- Baby born without eyes defies the odds as she thrives despite blindness - Express - March 10th, 2024
- Penn Medicine Accelerator Program to Boost AI-Powered Projects Targeting Blindness and Cervical Cancer - India Education Diary - March 10th, 2024
- Scientists discover gut bacteria`s role in genetically-linked vision loss - WION - February 27th, 2024
- Prevent Blindness launches new Retinopathy of Prematurity Education and Support Program as part of inaugural ... - Modern Retina - February 27th, 2024
- Revolutionizing Eye Disease Treatment: The Unseen Link Between Gut Bacteria and Blindness - Medriva - February 27th, 2024
- The Virtue of Color-Blindness & The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America Book Review - National Review - February 27th, 2024
- Sight loss could be treated by antibiotics after being linked to gut bacteria - The Independent - February 27th, 2024
- Prevent Blindness Launches New "Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) Education and Support Program" as Part of ... - PR Web - February 27th, 2024
- $35 million to fight blindness with manufactured corneas | Health Portfolio Ministers | Australian Government ... - Department of Health - February 10th, 2024
- Eye care, vision impairment and blindness - World Health Organization (WHO) - October 27th, 2023
- CHOROIDEREMIA RESEARCH FOUNDATION EXPANDS RESEARCH SUPPORT INTO NONSENSE MUTATIONS OF A RARE INHERITED RETINAL - EIN News - May 1st, 2023
- Chennai eye hospital ties up with Iceland firm to adopt mathematical algorithm to predict diabetic retinopathy - The Hindu - April 23rd, 2023
- Drug-Resistant Bacteria Tied to Eyedrops Can Spread Person to Person ... - April 7th, 2023
- Prevention of Blindness Week 2023: Mumbai experts explain why you should be concerned about glaucoma and the need for regular eye checkups -... - April 7th, 2023
- Childhood blindness - Wikipedia - February 24th, 2023
- FDA Approves Syfovre (pegcetacoplan injection) for the Treatment of ... - February 24th, 2023
- Human mini brains illuminate path to curing blindness - February 16th, 2023
- Raymond V. Gilmartin: Man with a global vision - February 16th, 2023
- Why Are People So Mad About MrBeast's Blindness Video? - February 16th, 2023
- This heartwarming video of a colorblind boy seeing color for the first time will make you cry - Indiatimes.com - February 16th, 2023
- Blindness (Vision Impairment): Types, Causes and Treatment - February 8th, 2023
- CDC urges people to stop using brand of artificial tears linked to ... - February 8th, 2023
- Health News Roundup: U.S. FDA says India-made eye drop linked to some infections, blindness and one death; China records 3,278 COVID-related deaths... - February 8th, 2023
- I had two strokes at 29 and gone blind -I've been accused of faking my sight loss - Daily Mail - February 8th, 2023
- Blindness and vision impairment - World Health Organization - January 23rd, 2023
- Recovery from blindness - Wikipedia - January 23rd, 2023
- Colour blindness tests, juggling, avoiding glare: A hockey goalkeepeers quest to train his biggest weapon, eyes - The Indian Express - January 23rd, 2023
- But Did You See the Gorilla? The Problem With Inattentional Blindness ... - October 15th, 2022
- Canadians unaware of diseases that lead to blindness, survey says - CTV News Northern Ontario - October 15th, 2022
- A Review of Corneal Blindness: Causes and Management - Cureus - October 15th, 2022
- A cure for blindness may be first product made in space - Freethink - October 15th, 2022
- Is MrBeast trying to cure 1000 people's blindness? - indy100 - October 15th, 2022
- Early detection and management is the key to prevent glaucoma related blindness: Experts - Express Healthcare - October 15th, 2022
- As World Sight Day Nears, River Blindness is Fading - SaportaReport - October 15th, 2022
- Tears of happiness: How curing blindness in Dolakha saved a girls future - City A.M. - October 15th, 2022
- World Sight Day: Orbis, UC Davis team up to train eye care teams from Latin America to fight avoidable blindness - Ophthalmology Times - October 15th, 2022
- Juan Williams: The GOPs epidemic of intentional blindness - The Hill - October 15th, 2022
- Charles pays tribute to Malawi's elimination of disease causing blindness - Express & Star - October 15th, 2022
- Coping with calamity: Former NYT columnist Frank Bruni on blindness and vision, at Morristown book fest keynote - Morristown Green - October 15th, 2022
- Sighting solutions in a world of vision for weavers - The New Indian Express - October 15th, 2022
- Blindfold run raises $40,000 for the MUHC Foundation to support glaucoma care at the MUHC - StreetInsider.com - October 15th, 2022
- MacKenzie Scott Donates $15M to Address the Eyecare Needs of the Impoverished - InvisionMag - October 15th, 2022
- Astellas and MBC BioLabs Announce Astellas Future Innovator Prize to Help Biotech Start-ups Accelerate Early Drug Discovery and Research Efforts -... - September 20th, 2022
- Treating cataracts before 'critical age' imperative FBC News - FBC News - September 20th, 2022
- GenSight Biologics to Present at Upcoming Industry and Investor Conferences - Business Wire - September 20th, 2022
- Ashton Kutcher battled vasculitis causing blindness, loss of hearing. Know all about the rare condition - India TV News - August 11th, 2022
- Prevent Blindness Is Recognized as a Healthy People 2030 Champion for Supporting the Initiative's Vision - Vision Monday - August 11th, 2022
- Researchers make progress toward a stem cellbased therapy for blindness - Ophthalmology Times - August 11th, 2022
- The strategic blindness of Israel's caretaker government - JNS.org - August 11th, 2022
- UND professor carries the torch for UND studies of visual impairment and blindness - Grand Forks Herald - August 11th, 2022
- Karan Nagrani is using social media to raise awareness about the 'spectrum of blindness' - ABC News - August 11th, 2022
- Vision impairment and blindness related to NCDs: Fong - FBC News - August 11th, 2022
- Strategic blindness of caretaker government - The Jewish Star - August 11th, 2022
- Massachusetts woman blinded by attack working to help others regain sight - WCVB Boston - August 11th, 2022
- Persuasion Film Review: Is Heterogeneous Casting Race-Inclusionary Or Escapist? - Feminism In India - August 11th, 2022
- Is It Time To Start Using Race And Gender To Combat Bias In Lending? - Forbes - August 11th, 2022
- The journey of Kali Yugi started with the mistake of objectives! - Youthistaan - August 11th, 2022
- A 50-State Review of Access to State Medicaid Program Information for People with Limited English Proficiency and/or Disabilities Ahead of the PHE... - August 11th, 2022
- iHealthScreen Completed Prospective Trial of AI-Based Tool for Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) Screening and Submitting the Results to FDA for... - August 11th, 2022
- Vitamin B12: Why You Need It & Foods To Increase Your Vitamin B12 Intake - NDTV - August 11th, 2022
- Jack Levine: Remembering a dad who proved that even in blindness, there can be vision - The Florida Times-Union - June 26th, 2022
- Potion of Blindness | Minecraft Ideas Wiki | Fandom - June 26th, 2022
- Tightening a molecular "zipper" could help prevent hereditary blindness - New Atlas - June 26th, 2022
- What's the Link Between Glaucoma and Dry Eyes? - Healthline - June 26th, 2022
- Lisa Durden's upcoming documentary "Blind Divas" follows Krystle Allen and Naquela Wright-Prevoe, two Black women entrepreneurs, determined... - June 26th, 2022
- Trump election lies may fit legal concept of willful blindness - Chicago Tribune - June 26th, 2022
- Sightsavers relaunches its thematic strategy The Sun Nigeria - Daily Sun - June 26th, 2022
- Trachoma elimination: millions more to benefit from donated azithromycin - World Health Organization - June 26th, 2022
- Dangers of super gonorrhoea from infertility to blindness as global warning issued - Daily Star - June 26th, 2022
- Fifty years of Title IX: What is it, what does it cover and do we still need it? - The Athletic - June 26th, 2022
- How The SMH Got That Rebel Wilson Story So Wrong - Junkee - June 26th, 2022
- The Week That Was: All of Lawfare in One Post - Lawfare - Lawfare - June 26th, 2022
- Why Brad Pitt quit smoking and drinking altogether during the pandemic - BusinessGhana - June 26th, 2022
- Watch your eye - The New Indian Express - June 26th, 2022
- Olivia Brouwer's art is for everyone to see and touch - Hamilton Spectator - June 26th, 2022
- Monkeypox may not mutate as fast as coronaviruses, but that doesn't mean it can't adapt to its new hosts - The Conversation - June 26th, 2022
- Former American Express Foundation President Takes Helm of Signature Theatre - The Chronicle of Philanthropy - June 26th, 2022