Dale Turner was barely old enough to read when doctors told him his world would soon go dark.

"The doctors said I would be completely blind by age 10," said Turner.

He has an inherited form of blindness called leber's congenital amaurosis, a defective gene prevents his retina from producing the nutrients his eyes need. His vision was like looking down a gun barrel.

He got used to the fact he'd be legally blind for the rest of his life until his parents heard about an experimental therapy, injecting new, healthy genes into the eye.

"You always have the hope that there will be something for your incurable condition. Growing up, there'll be something for my eyes someday that will allow me to see," said Dale Turner.

In a trial, doctors injected hundreds of billions of copies of the working gene beneath the retina in the back of the eye. Four out of six patients regained vision.

"The improvement in vision corresponded exactly where the genes were replacing the defective gene," said William Hauswirth, Ph.D. Professor of Ophthalmic Molecular Genetics.

To test the success of the surgery, patients in a British study walked through a maze. Before treatment, this legally blind man bumped into the wall six times and took almost a minute and a half to get through the course. After surgery, no bumps and he finished in 14 seconds.

Dale will never forget the first time he went outside after surgery.

"I could see colors like never before, and it was just like a blue sky I've never seen before, and I had this feeling, like what have I been missing out on this whole time?" he said.

He's now working on a law degree and hooked on hobbies he thought were impossible.

For more information: Ivanhoe Broadcast News2745 W. Fairbanks Ave.Winter Park, FL 32789http://www.ivanhoe.comMelissa Medalie, Supervising Producer Medical Newsmmedalie@ivanhoe.comDirect Line: (407) 691-1516Viewer Line: (407) 740-0789 ext. 579