MAN OF VISION BLIND DAD PUTS BITTERNESS ASIDE TO ASSIST OTHERS.

Byline: Kathleen Sweeney Staff Writer

NEWHALL - Lorenzo Murillo III was so consumed with anger and frustration he built a wall between himself, his family and friends, and crawled into a world of self-pity.

``Why was I supposed to go blind?'' the 40-year-old Newhall man remembers thinking.

At 37, he had already lost 80 percent of his eyesight, the doctors at the University of California, Los Angeles, told him.

He first noticed the dot on his right eye seven years earlier. The doctors diagnosed him then with macular degeneration, but told him he wouldn't lose his eyesight for years to come.

But it came quicker than he realized and his friends and family started leaving him as he shut them out of his life. That was, until a friend reminded him to think of his son and daughter.

Instead of drowning in anger, he took that energy and decided to open a center for the blind because there was no resource center closer to the Santa Clarita Valley than UCLA. Last year, the Visually Impaired Assistance Center was established as a resource center.

On Friday, the nonprofit organization joined forces with the Santa Clarita Senior Center and the Santa Clarita Valley Committee on Aging Corp. to expand those services and reach more people in need of help.

``We have to catch someone before they fall,'' Murillo said, not letting them feel helpless or angry much like he did.

This program will not only offer support groups for the visually impaired, but help the younger people stay in the work force or get back into working and help the elderly feel they still have a purpose in life.

Brad Berens, executive director of the Santa Clarita Valley Committee on Aging, said it will do that by offering in-home care, transportation, home-delivered meals and the support networks.

``This seems, to us, that this was a match made in heaven,'' he said.

John Taylor, who was hired as a case worker, will go into the community to identify people who are visually impaired and alert them to the program. He will also help provide visual aids, and the support groups where they can discuss their feelings about losing their sight and share information on the newest technology.

Murillo sees this merger with the other organizations as a dream come true, he said. Now, the self-pity that filled his life has been replaced by the ability to help others and has opened his eyes to things and ideas he's never seen before.

``There are people out there who have it worse than me,'' he said. ``I lost my vision, not hope.''

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Lorenzo Murillo III, left, joined Norma Shannon and Ray Graeber to establish the Visually Impaired Assistance Center.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News