Watch A Blind 12-Year-Old See His Mom For The First Time

Christopher Ward, 12, has been legally blind since he was born. But thanks to a new device, he just saw his mother for the very first time. The eSight headset, which Ward recently tried out, uses a high-speed camera to send live video to a glasses screen in front of users' eyes, ABC News explains. The headset provides wearers with "unprecedented visual clarity," says eSight. According to Marquita Hackley, Ward's mother, Ward was born with optic nerve hypoplasia, which means that the nerve didn't fully develop before he was born. Ward only has slight light perception in his left eye, and extremely low vision in his right eye. "The very first thing he did was turn to me and say, 'Oh, Mommy! There you are!" Hackley said to ABC News. "And then to hear him say, 'I saw my mom, and she was very pretty,' was so heartwarming...just the fact he could even see me meant the whole world to me." The incredible technology does come at a price — the eSight headset costs $15,000. Ward's insurance won't cover the cost (seriously?), but his family crowdsourced enough money to buy the headset, thanks to a YouCaring page, so Ward and Hackley's story has a truly happy ending. To learn more about eSight demos, check out the company's website here.