Alum Fights Blindness

Each step is something new for Tom Fairhurst.

From the paved roads, cracked sidewalks and sounds of the street, his feet and ears tell his brain what his eyes aren’t able to.

He rounds the corner of his navy house on 77th street onto Delmar Road. As he walks along the street to the Prairie Village pool, he passes by his old high school he graduated 40 years previous, and the track he still runs on frequently.
He’s greeted with the usual friendly sounding hellos from managers and patrons at the pool as he makes his way down the stairs and ramp to the meter pool. Walking in baby steps, his shins meet the royal blue bench he always sets his white and gray bag on.

Shuffling slowly he finds the gutter to the second lap-lane and sits down. Moving his head, Fairhurst listens, but doesn’t see.

He listens to the birds, the kids playing, and the pool’s soothing sound of the water crashing into the gutter. With a smile on his face, he slides in, and begins swimming.

* * *
On Aug. 28, Tim Pickell attended Shawnee Mission East’s 40 year anniversary of the class of 1970. Amongst the crowd were wealthy business men, the most decorated track athlete in the school’s history, and a blind man.

Pickell chose his long term friend Fairhurst over a good portion of the crowd to spend his time with, and for good reason. He finds Fairhurst’s accomplishments in life to be superior to any business deal or track record.

“He’s not just inspirational to me but a lot of people,” said Pickell. “I mean, when you think about ok: I have a job, I can see, I can run, I can swim, I’m independent. And I have a classmate who has most of those things and is blind. That’s pretty remarkable to me.”

To the Fairhurst family, Tom’s birth was somewhat of a surprise. To everyone’s bewilderment, Fairhurst was born two months pre-mature, and was in life threatening danger from the moment he first saw light. Most pre-mature baby’s have a serious risk of breathing problems, lung troubles or hearing loss. But the Fairhurst family was in for something different.

After the delivery, he was placed in the incubator with all of the other babies. Too much oxygen was let into the room at St. Luke’s hospital, and the day-old Fairhurst became blind, and unable to see. All he could see was light, and dark.

Fairhurst was diagnosed with what is called Retro-mental-fiber-palsies. In short, the scarring of the retinas. The degree of blindness is due to how much of the retina is scarred, and Tom was staring at darkness.

As he grew older, Fairhurst strove for normality.

He went to Camp Nash four different times in the summers for Boy Scouts and received his Eagle Scout. He chased the ice cream man all around town every hot summer day to get his popsicle fix before going home every night. But in-spite of all of his attempts to be in the ‘In-crowd,’ Tom couldn’t fight the blindness. No matter what he did, or how hard he tried, he would never see the faces of his friends as they rode their bikes in the Briarwood parking lot. He would never see the red drops of flavor from his favorite Popsicle melting onto the sidewalk, and he would never be able to see his purple badge being placed on his scout uniform.

But Pickell remembers Tom’s attitude being cheerful as a kid, and even still today.

“He is about as normal as you can be without being able to see,” said Pickell. “He was very even-tempered and general smiling”

At the end of a conversation, Fairhurst will even sometimes call out to Pickell, “Alright see ya later Tim,” and Pickell would jokingly reply, “Well, no you won’t.” Fairhurst laughs and replies “Alright then I’ll talk to you later.”

After Prairie Elementary school and Indian Hills Junior High together, Fairhurst and Pickell went on to Shawnee Mission East.

According to Pickell, Fairhurst was a dedicated student that always put his schoolwork first. He was serious, but had a good sense of humor to back up his seriousness. Fairhurst attended all the high school football games and most of the basketball games on Friday nights. He was involved in the choir program at East and has always loved the musical pieces of life. But he didn’t love high school.

“I had a little bit of growing up to do and, like it or not, the blindness was a factor. It just was. Right or wrong,” said Fairhurst.

But negativity just wasn’t then, and still isn’t now, any kind of option for Fairhurst after high school.

“There’s been acceptance but also willingness to try and meet the challenges,” said Fairhurst. “sure, I have a blue day like everyone else does but it doesn’t dominate my life.

After graduating from high school from East and college at William Jewel, Tom moved in with his father after his mother passed away in 1977. He then started walking from his house to the East track. Once he arrived, he began to run. Running in the closest lane to the football field, Fairhurst trotted, dragging his metal cane along the side so he could know where to turn.

Running a few laps one day, swimming a couple another, Tom never lets his lack of eyesight get in the way of his favorite part of the day, his workout. When he isn’t checking his email, looking for work, chopping up a fallen tree branch or listening to a ballgame on the radio, Fairhurst can be found in one of his two favorite places.

The track, or the pool.

For the past five summers, five or six days a week, Fairhurst walks up his street, and into the Prairie Village pool.  Without even having to see his feet step one in front of the other, Tom walks in, travels down the stairs to the meter pool, and gets ready for his 16 laps a day. When Fairhurst enters the facility, everyone turns to see. All the lifeguards, all the managers, all of the patrons near the meter pool. Just seeing him accomplish a task like walking to the pool and swimming, Pickell, who is also a member of the pool, feeds off of Tom’s determination.

“Whenever I’m swimming in a lane by him and I start to get tired, I glance over at him and think, ‘well, whats my excuse?” Said Pickell. “Even if you don’t know him, just seeing him makes you want to do better.”

Sometimes, Pickell closes his eyes as he swims. Just to see what it is like. Rarely does he make it the entire 50 meters, but it makes Pickell appreciative of his eyesight even that much more.

Though he receives a lot, many of his friends will tell you, Fairhurst doesn’t seek help. He doesn’t look for compassion and rarely does he feel bad for himself. He feels that life is worth living to the fullest, and is too short to feel bad about yourself.

“I like going out there and focusing on other people, not focusing on poor me,” said Fairhurst.

“My blindness is just a part of life,” said Fairhurst smiling.

Not only is Fairhurst an athlete, but as musician as well. He was in the choir program throughout his high school education, and then went on to William Jewel and was in their musical program as well.

Whether its singing, playing the piano, or his new favorite, downloading music, Fairhurst has kept music in his life. He holds dearly his fathers old record player and records, and listens to them often.

* * *

It’s 6:30 a.m. when Pickell finally pulls into the junior lot at East near the track. Fresh out of college track, Pickell planned on getting in a solid workout in the morning before he went on with the rest of his day.
“I got up there and I was feeling pretty proud of myself, but also kind of griping about how this was going to stink,” said Pickell.

But once Pickell walked onto the track, he no longer had a reason to complain. There was Tom Fairhurst, blind, running in the first lane, with his white cane dragging on the edge.

Pickell waited for Tom to finish before talking to him. He asked him how far he had ran, expecting it to be one or two.

“Oh I ran five,” said Tom with a smile. He turned around, and walked home.
“I just remember thinking, he’s blind, and he just ran five miles and now he’s walking home,” said Pickell. “and I just ran one sprint and I’m sucking air? I have to keep running now.”
Whether it’s playing music, running, rollerblading or ice skating, Tom Fairhurst has inspired many to not let their faults, overcome their ambitions. Each step on the East track is one step closer to normality in Fairhurst’s mind, even if his feet are telling him where to go, rather than his eyes.