Hometown Hero: Brian Lane Unmasks Vision Disorders

If you see a man walking around downtown Royal Oak wearing a mask, don’t be alarmed – Brian Lane is not a bank robber.

For 30 days, Lane – who works at on Fourth Street – will be sporting various masks and bright T-shirts that say, “Ask me why?” Lane is wearing the mask to raise money and awareness for the sight impaired.

Losing sight

“When I was a senior in high school my mom fell and hit her head,” said the 31-year-old Madison Heights resident who has full vision. “She lost her memory and then a few months later she lost her sight in her right eye.”

Terry Lynn Lane of Waterford was on crutches when she fell in 1997. "I was protecting a broken ankle and not my face,” she said.

She hit her head so hard in the spill that she lost her short-term memory.

“I went to work and I couldn’t remember things like the names of the girls I worked with,” Lane said. “Then a few months later, I lost the sight in my right eye.”

Doctors were puzzled. Tests showed nothing wrong with Lane’s eyes. Doctors would ask her if she hit her head and she would say no. She had no memory of the fall. A year later she lost partial sight in her left eye, too.

Finally, after three years, Lanes’s memory of falling came back to her and she found a neural ophthalmologist who was able to explain why she lost her vision.

“My eyes are fine, but the fall damaged the nerves that go from my eyes to brain,” she said. “By the time they figured out what was wrong, my right eye was too far gone.”

Lanes has what is described as tunnel vision; she has no peripheral vision at all.

“My mom can see a little bit,” Brian Lane said. “But her world is dark and small.”

Having a vision

Brian Lane came up with the idea to wear a mask for 30 days to raise awareness for people like his mother who have lost their sight.

“I could have just worn a mask for a couple of hours to see what it’s like, but who would care?” he said. “I decided to go blind for 30 days to make a statement.”

For the first 10 days of March, Lane is wearing a mask that gives him tunnel vision. Then for 10 days he will wear a mask that prevents him from having central vision. The final 10 days of the month he will experience what it is like to live in total blindness. While he does, he will be wearing bright T-shirts and distributing flyers in hopes of raising money for optic nerve research and vision disorders.

Seeing what it’s like

On his first day of wearing a mask, Lane was bumping into walls at work. It was a struggle to do even a simple thing like vacuuming.

“He’s been vacuuming for an hour,” co-worker Liz Manzella said. “We’re afraid he’s going to burn out the motor. It’s funny to watch him, but honestly, I am very proud of him. It’s going to take a lot for him to get through these 30 days."

Lisa Hill of New Beginnings Animal Rescue agrees. “I am a little worried about his safety," she said, "but I think this is an amazing way for him to get people’s attention and to make them aware of a good cause.”

Along with the support have come some smirks and remarks that hurt.

“People are saying things like, ‘You must not have anything better to do’ or  ‘Why don’t you get a job?’” he said. “I do a have a job!”

Still Lane said 99 percent of the people he meets are supportive and no one is more pleased than his mother.

“I am so proud he wants to know how I feel,” Terry Lynn said. “I’ve never heard of anyone going for 30 days wearing a mask." Maybe a couple of hours, she said, but not a full month.

“On his first day he called me and said, ‘Mom I wanted to call you for about the first hour I had the mask on,’” Terry Lynn said. “He told me he almost started crying. He said, ‘I am so sorry your world is so crazy.'”

How to help

In the meantime, Lane continues to wear the mask at work, the gym and out around town. He only takes the mask off to drive to work. Moving around on foot, he relies on friends to help him.

On his first day, he was asked to take off the mask at a bank for security reasons, he said.

“I guess I looked like a robber,” he said.

To his mother and co-workers Lane looks more like a super hero.

Lane hopes to raise $25,000 for vision disorders. To learn more or to make a donation visit www.30days.stayclassy.org.