This is the moment a mother broke down in tears after her colour blind 10-year-old son saw true colour for the first time.
Video shows Christopher Jonathan Du Preez, known as CJ, trying to name the colour of balloons at his home in East London, South Africa.
After getting some of them wrong, he puts on a $350 pair of glasses designed to unlock colour vision – and is instantly able to identify each shade correctly, sparking an outpouring of emotion from his mother Browen.
A mother broke down in tears after her colour blind 10-year-old son saw true colour for the first time. Video shows Christopher Jonathan Du Preez, known as CJ, trying to name the colour of balloons at his home in East London, South Africa
The clip shows the youngster walking around the family’s property in awe as he looks at items in a totally different light for the first time
After getting some of them wrong, he puts on a $350 pair of glasses designed to unlock colour vision – and is instantly able to identify each shade correctly, sparking an outpouring of emotion from his mother Browen. The pair then embrace (pictured)
The clip shows the youngster walking around the family’s property in awe as he looks at items in a totally different light for the first time.
Moments after putting on the US-made Enchroma glasses, CJ looks around and says: ‘Oh my God, the wall’s looking brown now.’
Through tears, his mother replies: ‘Does it look different my baby?’
As he walks off towards a green garage door, he suddenly turns and embraces his weeping mother, who says: ‘I love you my boy – now you see what I see my angel. Look at me, do I look different?’
CJ had not been able to identify the correct colour of balloons before putting on his new glasses
Browen Du Preez (pictured with son CJ) explained that the family realised the youngster was colour bline when he first started school. He would associate colours with shapes with he would then memorise to help him get by
The tearful youngster nods and, as the emotion takes hold of him, he admits the transformation is ‘scary’.
‘I’m so happy for you my baby,’ says Browen, who launched a fundraising appeal to help pay for and import the glasses.
‘And we say thank you so much to the people who helped make this dream for you come possible,’ she adds.
Browen explained that the family realised CJ was colour bline when he first started school. He would associate colours with shapes which he would then memorise to help him get by.
She said: ‘My father was colour blind and he had adapted to it. Colour blindness is passed on through genes.
‘CJ would get so upset when he was younger so I explained to him he had a super power. When my dad was in the army he’d be put on the front line as he was able to see a lot more than everyone else.
As he walks off towards a green garage door, he suddenly turns and embraces his weeping mother, who says: ‘I love you my boy – now you see what I see my angel. Look at me, do I look different?’
Browen and her family (pictured) launched a fundraising appeal to help pay for and import the $350 glasses
The glasses are described by Enchroma as a ‘marriage of color vision science and optical technology’. They claim to be ‘the only specialty eyewear that alleviates red-green color blindness, enhancing colors without the compromise of color accuracy’
‘I decided to look up the Enchroma glasses online but they were very expensive for me to afford. I decided to set up a Facebook page: Help CJ see The World in Colour.
‘With the help of followers of the page I was able to raise enough money to buy him the glasses.’
The glasses are described by Enchroma as a ‘marriage of color vision science and optical technology’.
They claim to be ‘the only specialty eyewear that alleviates red-green color blindness, enhancing colors without the compromise of color accuracy’.
Her video has already been widely shared and the family has been overwhelmed by the positive reaction to the youngster’s new lease of life.
‘I decided to film CJ trying the glasses. For me I’d done it for those who had donated so that they could see where the money had gone. The second CJ started naming the colours correctly I became emotional.’
‘We take it for granted everyday the colours, shapes and definition we see, it makes me appreciate it. CJ is a shy, humble, quiet, boy and I wasn’t expecting him to cry.’