THROUGH THE EYES OF A CHILD MADELINE CAPTURES ALL SHE SEES.Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
SAN FERNANDO San Fernando, city, Argentina San Fernando (săn fərnăn`dō), city (1991 pop. 144,761), Buenos Aires prov., E Argentina. It is a district administrative center in the Greater Buenos Aires area. - It is a race against time for the Gomez family, a race against a day everyone hopes will never come - when the world may finally go completely dark for their 5-year-old girl, Madeline. There is not a minute to waste for this little girl born with congenital glaucoma congenital glaucoma n. See buphthalmia. . Not a sunrise or sunset to miss, not a flower garden or a beautiful blue sky to let pass by, not a crowded street scene ignored for this little girl to burn into her mind's eye mind's eye n. 1. The inherent mental ability to imagine or remember scenes. 2. The imagination. mind's eye Noun in one's mind's eye in one's imagination for future reference. She soaks it all in every day because it would be a sin to waste this gift God gave her in place of her eyesight, her parents, Katherine and Severo Gomez say. This incredible talent she has to draw pictures of people and landscapes at 5 years old. ``In 30 years of teaching, I have never seen artwork like this coming from a child so young,'' says Karen Gladstone, a teacher at City of Angels, the home-school home·school or home-school v. home·schooled, home·school·ing, home·schools v.tr. To instruct (a pupil, for example) in an educational program outside of established schools, especially in the home. program for the Los Angeles Unified School District The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California and the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. . ``She is an incredible artist with a photographic memory,'' she said. ``Her mother takes her to museums, aquariums, everywhere to expose her to all the beauty of life, because she doesn't know if she will be able to see it later.'' At the end of the day, Madeline, who is legally blind, sits in her bedroom at her family's San Fernando home, and draws the scenes and people of her day. Draws them with incredible beauty. A portrait she did of Dr. Richard Casey Richard Casey may refer to:
``I get a lot of artwork from patients, but hers is the only one I've ever hung up,'' Casey said. ``Her drawings are fantastic, and she is a true inspiration to everyone. ``She was born with congenital problems of the eyes, had a number of glaucoma surgeries, and a cornea cornea: see eye. transplant, and still her favorite thing to do is read and draw,'' he said. ``A lot of kids won't pick up a book for anything. Here is a little girl making the best of the little eyesight she has, and doing so good at it.'' Her daughter was about 18 months old when she picked up a pencil one day in her hospital room while recuperating from another eye surgery, and just started drawing, Katherine said. ``She began spending a good part of every day drawing everything she could see up close - the people, the landscapes, everything.'' ``She would sit there for a couple of minutes, and it would just come out from inside her, these incredible drawings. ``By the time she was 3, she was drawing better than I was. Everyone was amazed, including her doctors, and they're pretty hard to amaze because they see so much.'' Ramona Carreon of Simi Valley Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. , Madeline's grandmother, laughs as she remembers watching the reaction of doctors at UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX after seeing her granddaughter's drawings for the first time. ``One doctor was all the way out into the hallway before he returned to Madeline's room, did a double take, and asked us if we had helped her draw the picture,'' Carreon said. ``When we told him no, she had done it all herself, he just shook his head. He couldn't believe a 5-year-old could draw like that.'' No one knows how much eyesight this little girl has left to soak in the world and draw her beautiful pictures. What the doctors do know is this - there is no cure for the congenital glaucoma she has. So there is no time to waste on this gift God has given their daughter in place of her eyesight, her mother says. ``We're trying our best to save what little vision she has left, and if it hadn't been for all the surgeries, she would be completely blind already.'' ``That's why we want to expose her to everything we can now, and we have. She soaks it all in, then she draws it.'' On Thursday, Madeline was sitting in her grandmother's kitchen drawing a church she had just visited. ``I want to be an artist someday,'' she said, making the church come alive on paper. You already are, honey. You already are. CAPTION(S): 3 photos Photo: (1 -- 3 -- color) Although she's legally blind, Madeline Gomez, 5, above, concentrates while working on a piece of artwork at her grandmother's Simi Valley home. Doctors at UCLA Medical Center, who have performed several surgeries on the little girl but say she will lose her sight someday, marvel at the drawings she produces, left. A detail is below. Although teachers say she's a prodigy, she'd had no art lessons when she began to draw at age 3. Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer |
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