arts
MUSIC IS THE WINDOW TO HIS SOUL Blind musician’s talent emerges onto the nightlife scene | By Kelly Twedell
Top left | Michael with his mother and sister at Morgan’s Chophouse. Top right and Lower left | Playing by ear, Michael is quick to pick up the melody.
O
ut on the town on quite a pleasant spring evening in Fayetteville, 11-year- old Michael Macias was in his element as
he wowed the dinner crowd at Morgan’s Chophouse. Comfortably swaying back and forth to the musical energy flowing from his fingers onto the keyboard, you’d never guess that Michael has grown up blind. Just two months into his short life
Michael was diagnosed with retinopathy of prematurity. He went blind at just four months old. The condition causes abnormal blood vessels to grow in the
eye and attach to the retina. As the blood vessels pulsate, they rip the retina from the back of the eye. After numerous surgeries, Michael’s retinas have been reattached but he has only minimal light perception. “When we discovered the blindness,
I quit my job as a dispatcher for the Hope Mills Police Department and became a full-time stay-at-home mom,” said Michael’s mother, Angela Rafferty. “Through ensuring he had the best doctors, the best schools and the opportunity to be exposed to as much as possible, Michael’s life took my career and turned it in a direction to where I am in a position to help others and
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