Film Description

Eleven-year-old Jessica Perk thinks she might be a photographer, a gymnast, a soccer player -- or maybe the first girl president of the United States. "We'll just have to wait and see," she says. But seeing is a problem for Jessica, who has Stargardt's, an inherited form of macular degeneration which usually appears between the ages of six and twenty and causes loss of sharpness of vision, decreased color vision, and blind spots. It's estimated that over 25,000 Americans have the disease, and there's no cure.

Jessica had normal vision until the age of eight and then, in a few short years, became legally blind. With the calm but determined support of her parents and teachers she attends a regular classroom, plays competitive soccer, and wants to ride her bike around the neighborhood on her own, though that makes her father really nervous.

She's also a serious runner, and her inspiration is Marla Runyan, a legally blind Olympic runner who also has Stargardt's. Jessica first met her hero by email, but in the film's final scenes she finally gets the chance to meet Marla in person and to exchange running tips and autographs.