10-year-old xavier mccoury of Charlotte, North Carolina is completely color blind. Reportedly this is a genetic trait passed down to the 4th grader from his grandfather. His world has all been in shades of grey – that is until Sunday.

As reported by WCNC, color blindness is relatively common. They quote the National Eye Institute as saying color blindness affects as much as eight percent in the male population and .5 percent of women. However, in Xavier’s case, his condition is far more rare, as he can only experience colors as black, grey and white.

Xavier McCoury’s color blindness is genetic

Because of Xavier’s grandfather, Melissa McCoury always knew her son could possibly be color blind. The truth sank in when he was three years of age. She remembers that they were talking and Xavier didn’t know what color a rabbit was.

As reported by WHAS11, seven years down the line Xavier is overjoyed to finally be able to experience color with the aid of a pair of EnChroma glasses. Developed originally by Don McPherson, who reportedly has a Ph.D in glass science, early clinical trials of what are dubbed “glasses for the blind” revealed that the lenses could serve as an optical aid for the color blind. Wearing those glasses allows the color blind person to see colors, just like everyone else does.

It was Xavier’s aunt Selena who first found out about the EnChroma glasses. Initially when running through the boy’s stats on their compatibility test, she wasn't completely sure if they would work for Xavier. However, Melissa and Selena thought it was worth giving it a shot and gave them to Xavier as an early birthday gift on Easter Sunday.

10-year-old experiences color for the first time

As Xavier opened the box, his aunt was face-timing with the family from her Ohio home and when he looked confused, she told him what they were.

His mouth literally dropped, and when he put the glasses on the shock grew even more. Xavier became incredibly emotional as he experienced the green of the grass and the blue of the sky. The glasses did, indeed, work for him.

Xavier says color is awesome

According to Xavier, if this is what humans really see, if this is color, then it is awesome. Melissa said there wasn’t a dry eye in sight as Xavier put the glasses on and a huge smile lit up his face. She said you just knew the glasses worked. Melissa said she can’t wait to show Xavier the colors of the North Carolina sunsets and the beauty of the world around him. As for Xavier, he reportedly loves wearing the glasses and now sees things he hadn’t noticed before, including all the different shades of each color.

He also found out that fire hydrants come in both red and yellow.

However, according to the color blind boy, yellow is his favorite color, because when he was color blind it was dark, but now he can see it, it is bright and stands out. Watch Xavier's emotional response in the video posted by Melissa McCoury to YouTube below.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED