(This article, reprinted with permission, featuring James Balch, class of 2006, appeared in The Columbus Dispatch on July 3, 2006)  7/5/06

Bexley graduate strengthens sight, focuses on future

Monday, July 03, 2006
Charlie Roduta
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

James Balch needed three weeks to settle into his summer break.

The recent Bexley High School graduate has varnished the wood floor at his family’s Michigan lake house, spent several days researching his latest passion — renewable energy — and is trying to return to his summer job at Lutheran Social Services, where he developed disaster-preparedness plans.

"This is my relaxation," Balch said. "My worse days are when I’m doing nothing. I’m kind of a workaholic."

Behind him is the breakneck pace of the last two years of high school. Ahead of him, Ohio State University.

And he says nothing is holding him back.

"It’s like 12 years of dreaming came together," said Balch, 18.

For most of his life, Balch has been plagued by a vision problem that corrective lenses and surgery can’t fix.

He suffers from exotropia, a condition in which his eyes work separately.

During long periods of testtaking, the strain of forcing his eyes to work together wages war on his body and his mind.

He gets nauseated. He develops migraines. He struggles to concentrate. He starts re-reading passages. His right eye shuts down.

"He has to work hard to … keep his eyes lined up," said Carole Burns, Balch’s optometrist."

Exotropia affects about 8 percent of people and is usually treated with eye therapy, she said.

Balch’s disorder was diagnosed when he was 5. A teacher noticed he had trouble reading — he was familiar with the letters, but could not put them together.

He started going to therapy, teaching his eyes how to work together.

After school and on the weekends, friends and classmates invited him to join in their games. But therapy came first.

"I almost felt like I was trying to climb Mount Everest," Balch said. "I was focusing so much time on studying and therapy every night."

He said three years of therapy seemed to have solved the problem.

"I never thought about giving up," Balch said. "I realized if I gave up, where would I be? I could not let that happen."

In the fifth grade, he was assigned to work on a project about the stock market, and followed America Online stock for two months.

He got an A on the project, and discovered a passion for business. Once fearful of reading, Balch absorbed as much business news as he could.

By the sixth grade, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist and Financial Times were on his must-read list. He familiarized himself with up-and-coming companies and even begged his mom to let him buy stock in JetBlue Airways.

The stock doubled the day he purchased 100 shares.

He knew high school would present a new set of challenges. The number of courses, new teachers and, of course, the tests. Lots of tests. "I started to get tired after taking a test," Balch recalled. "We could never figure out why. Then we realized. "It returned." Each exam became a struggle. He knew the answers but couldn’t see the questions. Teachers offered to help. He was allowed to take tests in a quiet room. He was given more time. He could write his answers directly on test papers.

His mom, Jacintha, packed ice compresses for his eyes on test days.

Some days were better than others.

Then in the spring of his junior year, Balch tried to take the SAT exam. Shifting his gaze from the test to the fill-in-the-circle answer sheet was too much.

His head pounded. He started to gag. Less than 60 minutes into the 3 1 /2-hour exam, both eyes collapsed.

"I felt blind," he said.

Balch returned to Burns’ office and started therapy again. He spent 60 hours last summer exercising his eyes.

During the week, he conditioned them with programs on his home computer. On the weekends, he went to Burns’ office.

While tests this year have taken a toll on him, Balch said he has learned to adapt. Each test, he said, made him mentally stronger.

He earned a cumulative 4.2 GPA last quarter and graduated summa cum laude with the 184 seniors of Bexley’s class of 2006 last month. .

Burns said she will monitor Balch’s condition every six months.

"His improvement is superior," she said. "I don’t expect he’s going to have any more challenges down the road."

This fall he will start his freshman year at Ohio State, where he wants to major in finance and accounting.

Bexley Principal John Kellogg predicts a successful future for Balch.

"I tell kids all the time, the thing that is a difference-maker in the world, more than anything else, is how hard you’re willing to work," he said.

"Whatever it is, James will figure out what it takes to get there and make sure he’s prepared."

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