Out of all 5 senses.. smell, taste, touch, hearing and sight.. which is most
important to you?It's one of
those questions most of us
would have a hard time
answering -- until you lose
one.Tonight, KSL's Mike
Headrick shares the story of
an 18 year-old in Logan..
who's found a way to see the
big picture.. in the middle of
adversity.
1:001:182:263:183:383:46Nats
adversity. 1:001:182:263:183:383:46Nats Two nights a week..Four
months out of the year..Nats
This old pool in Hyrum.. is
home to one of THE best high
school water polo teams in the
state..Nats The Cache
Valley Kraken..With an offense
that is straight up fire..Nats
.. And a defense..Nats
.. maybe even better.See that
guy in the cage blocking all
those shots.. Nats ..
that's Benjamin Lehnig.6 foot
3.. and a wing span nearly
just as long.This kid is
good.. treading water almost
half his life.Nats But
here's the thing about life..
Nats Whether it's in the
pool or out of the pool.. In
the middle of it all..Sot
Heather Lehnig Mom
á2.06.38 ".. he came
out of the locker room with
his cane..Sot Brooks
Lehnig Dad
á2.41.48 ".. the
coach saw him flip out that
cane for the first time..
There are simply some things
you just never..Nats/Sot
Benjamin walking with a cane
Eric Richards coach
á3.28.35 "somebody
said.. yah, that's your
goalie.." .26 .. yah, you
just never see coming.Sot
Brooks Lehnig Dad
2.41.50 "he's like
wait a minute.." .54 Sot
Heather Lehnig Mom
2.06.46 ".. my
goalie is blind?" .48 Sot
Brooks Lehnig Dad
2.41.52 ".. my
goalie's blind.. ha ha."
.54Sot Eric Richards
coach á3.28.27
".. I just blurted out.. I
have a blind goalie.. ha ha!"
.41 Nats crickets and
night sky I'm going to take
you back about 10 years ago to
a moment..Sot Heather
Lehnig Mom á1.55.24
"when he was 8.. we
were walking home one night.."
.27.. now seared in the
memory of Benjamin and his
mother.Sot Heather Lehnig
Mom á1.55.29
"I was pointing out
constellations to him.. and he
couldn't see the stars."
.32 Sot Benjamin Lehnig
á3.55.09
"sometimes I would say.. I
can't see the stars mom.. I've
never seen the stars.."
.13 Benjamin was losing his
night vision.. or at least..
that's what they thought.But
when he met with the eye doc a
few years later.. the
diagnosis..Nats docs office
.. dramatically changed.Sot
Heather Lehnig Mom
á1.55.57 "and the
doctor at that point.. sat us
down and said.. um, we're not
going to do contacts today, in
fact, your son's going blind."
.05 Dr. Kirk Winward is
Benjamin's eye doctor..Sot
Dr. Kirk Winward Retina
Associates of Utah 1.15.48
"that's a difficult
conversation to have.." .51
.. and in that conversation
said the words..1.06.02
"so, Ben has an ocular
condition called retinitis
pigmentosa." .06 Sot
Benjamin Lehnig 3.55.56
"WHEN YOU
FIRST HEARD THOSE WORDS.. WHAT DID YOU THINK? Umm, what is this.. ha ha." .01In
short.. retinitis pigmentosa
causes cells in the eye to die
and degenerate.The initial
effect.. tunnel vision.The
long term effect..Sot
Benjamin Lehnig á3.59.47
"..like.. you're looking
through a telescope, almost,
sometimes." .00 .. that
tunnel gradually closes in.Sot
Dr. Kirk Winward Retina
Associates of Utah
á1.13.28 "you and I
have probably close to 180
degrees of visual field.. Ben
is down to about 30." .35
And if you're curious what
that looks like in the
everyday world..Nats
.. it's a lot like this. 3 Walking the street..Climbing the stairs..Driving the..
wait, what?Sot Heather
Lehnig Mom
á1.59.12 ".. got out
of the car and whipped out his
blind cane.. and everybody's
mouth just dropped.." .17
.. yah, he doesn't drive
anymore.But here's the thing
so difficult to understand..
Nats pool.. with his
peripheral vision almost gone..
Nats .. and balls flying
at 40 miles per hour..Nats
.. how in the world does this
kid stop something.. that all
too often..Sot Benjamin
Lehnig á4.06.23
"and when they bring the ball
up.. that's a very distinct
noise.." .. he cannot even see.
Sot Brooks Lehnig Dad
á2.36.18 "I asked
him one day.. I said how are
you.. blocking those shots? I
know some of them you can't
see. And he said, well,
sometimes I just listen to
where the ball is." .30
Nats ball flying bySot
Eric Richards coach
á3.32.56 "he
describes that he can hear the
ball leave the players hand..
and then he's able to just
kind of track it.. almost like
an echo location." .04
Nats ball flying by
á4.03.05 "position
myself in a way where either
one arm.. both arms.. or my
face gets it.. ha ha." .09
Nats ball hitting camera
Bryan Lehnig Oldest Brother
á3.43.48 "
frankly.. I don't know how he
does it.." .50 That's
Benjamin's oldest brother,
Bryan.. and this Sot Jared
oldest brother á2.22.06
"IS HE BETTER THAN
YOU? Ha ha.. that's.. ha ha..
let's move on from that one..
ha ha." .12.. he's big
brother number Both of them
former all state goalies.. and
coaching Benjamin since he was
young.And the fact he's just
about legally blind..Nats..
has never kept them from
pushing his limits.Limits
tested just a few weeks ago..
Nats YouTube announcer..
when a tied-up game was forced
into a one-on-one shoot out.
Nats mix in soundbites of
announcer with Bryan
describing the play 4.49.15Sot
Bryan Brother
á3.44.05 ".. the
announcer was talking about
how, during the shootout.. he
was listening to the other
coach from the other team
saying, hey, you need to shoot
snake eyes on him.. like, look
one direction and shoot the
other.. right? And I'm like..
that's not going to work on
Benjamin because he doesn't
know where you're looking.. he
can't see your eyes.." .19
An entire game coming down to
just five shots.. And that..
Nats .. that right there..
Nats .. that block was the
game winner.Bryan Lehnig
Oldest Brother 3.44.21
".. and Benjamin was
just like.. ptttt.. nope, not
going to happen." .34 Nats
announce/gameSot
Brooks Lehnig Dad
2.35.37 "you're
always waiting for that next
shoe to drop, right.. what's
the limits of his abilities..
or how fast is it
progressing?" .44 Tests
have shown.. Benjamin is
losing more than one degree of
peripheral vision each year..
He's now at 27 degrees.And
while there is no cure..
Nats/music.. there are also no
limits.. he has allowed to
define him.He's a runner..He's
a worker..He's a rower.. He's
a builder..He's the kind of
kid who smiles.. even after
doctors slide a needle in his
eye..Sot Brooks Lehnig
Dad 2.38.13 "I
think.. in some ways.. his
growing blindness has made him
more independent.." .17 ..
and he's the kind of kid who
sees the world in a way.. many
of us probably should.Sot
Brooks Lehnig Dad
á2.38.34 "it makes me
really proud.. really proud of
him " .39 Nats
cheering crowdA proud father..
who on this night.. Nats.. and
at this pool.. Nats .. is
watching with the rest of this
hometown crowd.. as Benjamin
protects goal.. Nats ..
one last time.They're not
watching a charity case..He's
not a novelty act..Sot
Cole Dustin teammate
3.19.06 "he pushes us
to the next level..".. but
with nearly 400 blocks in
Benjamin's high school
career.. Sot Von Sorenson
teammate 3.22.06
"I have full sight.. I can't
even block them.." .08 ..
they're watching a kid who is
arguably..Sot Grant Simon
teammate 3.19.36
"he's probably the best
goalie I've seen in all my
years playing water polo.." ..
you may be looking at the best
in the state.And the beauty of
it all.. isn't necessarily the
reaction..Sot á2.24.23
"they're like, wait,
what? Ha ha." .25 Sot
á3.49.38 "were like..
wait.. what.. ha ha.. we're
playing against a blind guy.."
.42 .. when opposing teams
sees that cane..Sot
3.18.49 "and the
other team is like, wait..
he's blind.. and we just got
wrecked by him." .55 ..
it's the fact this 18 year
old.. with something nobody
saw Sot Benjamin Lehnig
4.11.25 seen the
things I want to see.. I've
I've seen my friends.."
.30 Lehnig á4.11.17
"it can go at anytime.. it
can go tomorrow.. next year..
50 years from now.. I feel
like I'm prepared for it to
just go.."
The teams haven't been announced yet.. but Benjamin's coach expects he will make all-
state.And there's a chance, he
says, Benjamin could be the
MVP.