Tyler Lubbe is one of those.
In 2020, the now 15-year-old was sitting on his parents, Rochelle and William’s, bed when his right eye became blurry and "caught him off guard".
His mother knew straight away what was happening — eye loss ran in their family — and sure enough, Tyler was diagnosed with Leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy, a condition that affects a person’s central vision.
Lubbe’s condition, which affects one in 50,000 people, had been very progressive in the past three years, leaving him with about 10% of his peripheral vision.
Tyler’s uncle David Mills, who won bronze at the 1988 Paralympics in the B2 marathon, aunt Joss Ingram, a black belt in taekwondo, and cousin Max Ingram, all have the rare condition.
There is also every chance his younger brother, Casey (14), could inherit it.
It has been a tough transition for the keen sportsman but he does not let it stop him from chasing his sporting dreams.
"It [sport] was such a big part of my life even with my vision," Tyler said.
"I didn’t, and wasn’t, going to give that up, no matter what."
Tyler started at jiujitsu at BJJ Ōtepoti Dunedin 11 years ago and has been playing football just as long.
Jiujitsu had always been a big part of his, and his brother’s, lives, and Tyler has continued to go from strength to strength since he was diagnosed.
He won gold and silver at King of the South in the blue belt division last year, competed at the South Island championships, is preparing for nationals later this year and earned his blue belt last weekend.
He helped club professor Philip Lindsay coach the juniors and planned to become a qualified coach.
"When [I lost my sight] jiujitsu kind of became something that I really started to love and started to pick up a lot more.
"I like it so much because it’s not a sport that you have to rely on your eyesight. It’s something that you can do — anyone can do, actually.
"The community we have at BJJ is amazing. Everyone is so inclusive."
It was the same with football.
His coach, Shane Smith, had also been "awesome".
He learned to adapt his skills for each sport, including social volleyball, but sport had become therapeutic and there was nothing he could not do, Tyler said.
"I’ve found ‘jits’ has been such a great sport and if anything, me losing my eyes was kind of a gift in a way, because I found I could feel the technique more.
"I want to prove to everyone else that I can still overcome adversity and do everything else that I could do in the past."
Eight months ago, he started playing bass guitar, competing with his band, Laconic, at Smokefree Rockquest, and is in Taieri’s school production.
He is one of five people with disabilities on Youth Voices, a national Ministry of Youth Development initiative, including Maori, Pasifika, Rainbow Youth and children with disabilities, to create a more inclusive school environment.
He advocated for other children to have the same support he received at Taieri which had been incredible, alongside his resource teacher, Jackie Baldi, and enabled him to excel academically. He was still in the top two classes and received merit and excellence grades.
"I feel like I have a very unique opinion because I was perfect 20:20 vision up until 2020 and then, out of nowhere, it’s gone.
"I have that perspective of both sides of the world. I kind of wanted to speak on behalf of those people."
Helping people has always been something Tyler strived for — and that has only grown since his diagnosis.
"Everyone was there for me when I started to lose my eyes and I wanted to, I guess, do the same and be there for everyone else.
"My community is amazing. All my friends at school, family, people at the club, they’ve all been there beside me, helping me work through this and I wanted to repay them in a way.
"Even before my eyes, I had a drive to help others and put others before myself, whether it be as simple as holding the door open for everyone in class ...
"I always go with the mindset that there’s a positive to a negative situation — I live by that."
Proving to his family he was still capable was important to him, as was setting a good example for his brother.
"With Case, since he has a chance of getting this, I’m not going to sit there and cry about everything and be upset and say I can’t do this, I can’t do that.
"I want to show him that anything’s possible still, because he’s still my younger brother."
And while some people might be down about the condition, Tyler is anything but.
"I would say that it’s a good thing that it’s happened because I’ve had so many opportunities come from this.
"I find even though it did happen and I do sometimes get upset about it, I’ve taken it for what it is and I’ve made the best out of it."
That outlook on life, and his desire to help everyone, is spurring his family on.
"He’s my inspiration to getting up every day," his father said.
