MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
It is Friday, which means it's time for StoryCorps. Fifteen-year-old Acacia Bigley brought her father, Dan, to StoryCorps in Anchorage, Alaska, to talk about how he became blind. It happened before Acacia was born. Dan was on a fishing trip when he accidentally came between a grizzly bear and her cubs. And let me warn you here, his story includes a graphic description of the bear attack.
DAN BIGLEY: She drug me off into the woods and stood over the top of me with front claws digging into either shoulder and her head directly over mine. That's when she cocked her head sideways and bit down across my face. I was in a medically induced coma for those first 12 days. The medical report put it this way - patient arrived at the hospital in a condition incompatible with life. I'll never forget that first time when your mom came into the hospital room. I couldn't talk, you know? And so I wrote down on a whiteboard, I'm blind. And she's like, yeah, I know. And I wrote down, I'm scared. I didn't think I was going to be able to have love or have kids.
ACACIA BIGLEY: But why did that make you think you couldn't be a father?
D BIGLEY: Well, you know me - I always like to joke that I was the first blind person I ever met.
(LAUGHTER)
D BIGLEY: And so I had this fear. Like, how does a blind guy change diapers? How do I make sure I don't knock my toddler down the stairs? You know, your mom and I had a really tough time. I kind of pushed her away, and she was pretty sad and mad. But I realized that I was stuck in a place of bitterness and a life of bitterness. I had more ability to destroy what life I had left than the bear did. I called your mom and said sorry.
A BIGLEY: And that's how I'm here today.
D BIGLEY: Thank goodness (laughter).
A BIGLEY: I know. When I was little, I just knew that there was a lot more things that I had to help you with than other kids. And I thought other parents were different, and you were the only normal one.
(LAUGHTER)
D BIGLEY: I remember when you and your brother were really little, and you guys would have on your little monkey backpacks with the tails.
A BIGLEY: (Laughter).
D BIGLEY: I would use you guys as my guides, holding onto your monkey tails.
(LAUGHTER)
A BIGLEY: We were your guide dogs.
D BIGLEY: My guide monkeys.
(LAUGHTER)
D BIGLEY: One night, we were just sitting there in your bed and you were getting ready to go to sleep, and you just said to me, Dad, are you happy? And I said, yeah, I'm super happy. A moment or two later, you said, so you're blind and you're happy?
(LAUGHTER)
D BIGLEY: I was like, yeah, I'm blind and I'm happy.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: Dan and Acacia Bigley for StoryCorps in Anchorage, Alaska. Their conversation is archived at the Library of Congress.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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