Blind Woman Raising Money For High Tech Glasses

MARLBORO (CBS) - A Marlboro woman who is legally blind, now has hope that she'll be able to see again. But first she needs to raise quite a bit of money. That's so she can buy a unique kind of eyeglasses, where technology steps in to give her what she doesn't have.

"I've been legally blind pretty much my entire life," said Laura Gregory, and that means she can see only a little. "I can see shapes. I can't make out facial features or anything."

Still, she's a voracious reader. "I read two or three books a week and I love that with the iPad I can adjust the font size. It's just that when I read, my nose just about touches the page. I like to say I give true meaning to having my nose stuffed in a book," she says.

But last fall Laura tried eSight glasses. "It was incredible," she says.

"She was very happy, very surprised by what she could say," says John Gregory, Laura's husband.

It's really a visor that contains a camera. "Instead of having lenses that look out they have screens where the images the camera is picking up are displayed. For the first time, with my husband sitting across the room from me, I could clearly see his facial expressions," Laura says.

But the cost is $9,000. She and her husband can't afford that and insurance won't pay, so friends have started raising money. "She has the ability to do so many things. It would open so many doors," says Sheila Courchaine who along with her husband has created "Laura's Army" to raise the money.

"I'm very hopeful I'll be wearing these glasses soon," Laura says.

To donate, mail a check to:
eSight for Laura Gregory
PO Box 214
Marlborough, MA 01752

Checks should be made out to "eSight for Laura Gregory"