[PHOTOS] They admired the world before three of their four children went blind

A family from Boucherville who moved the world by embarking on a year-long trip to the four corners of the globe to impress their children, who will eventually become blind, will return home in a few days, their heads and the heart filled with lasting memories.

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Riding a horse in Mongolia, observing wild animals on an African safari, hot air ballooning at sunrise in Turkey, or a nine-day hike in the Himalayas in Nepal, Mia, Léo, Colin and Laurent, aged respectively of 12, 10, 7 and 5 years old, have seen all the colors during the last year.

Unfortunately, three of them, Mia, Colin and Laurent, will completely lose their sight when they reach their thirties. At least that’s what doctors believe, explains mother Edith Lemay.

Photo provided by the Pelletier family

Children (top) Colin Pelletier, Laurent Pelletier (bottom) Léo Pelletier and Mia Pelleter, on a swing in Zanzibar, Tanzania.

Currently, no medication or treatment can cure the retinitis pigmentosa they suffer from. It is that their parents were carriers of a specific gene causing this disease, without knowing it.

Although their vision is affected in the dark, the disease does not affect it in broad daylight, says Ms.^me Lemay.

Photo provided by the family

The boys (left to right) Colin Pelletier, 7, Léo Pelletier, 10, Laurent Pelletier, 5, and (back row) their sister, Mia Pelletier, meditating at a temple near Bangkok.

“It’s like knowing that several big storms are coming and preparing as best you can, because you can’t prevent them. For the moment, they have a super good vision so we take advantage of it as much as possible, ”says the mother, live from Nizwa in Oman, a neighboring country of Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

This is their penultimate stop, before the big return, scheduled for April 10. They are heading for Egypt on Saturday, in order to fulfill one last wish of the children: to see the pyramids.

Photo provided by the Pelletier family

Resilience

This trip, M.^me Lemay says she started it first and foremost to help her children cope with the disease. “We wanted them to learn to be more resilient, because they will need this resilience when the disease breaks out. They will need to constantly adapt to new situations,” she says.

Since March 2022, the little family has traveled through 13 countries, camping, or renting lodgings or rooms directly “homestays”. “[D]Seeing people who have to pump water every morning, people who don’t have electricity, people who have to walk miles to go to school, it made them think. It shows them that even if they have a disability, they are extremely lucky if they compare themselves to other people on the planet”, illustrates the mother.

Photo provided by the Pelletier family

Challenges

According to M^me Lemay, one of the biggest challenges of this journey was homeschooling the three oldest children. “We didn’t really have a routine, so we weren’t always in a position to go to school, whether it was because of the heat or the time of day, but we did what we could!” she summarizes.

Photo provided by the Pelletier family

But, above all, the most difficult will have been to be with the family, 24 hours a day. “We were always the six together, in the same hotel room, three per bed, or six in a tent for four . Managing this dynamic, the baffles, is not always easy, ”she admits. Paradoxically, this is what she will miss the most, she adds, laughing.

Photo provided by the Pelletier family

Loaded with memories, the family is still eager to find “their comfort”, even if the goodbyes will be difficult, admits M^me Lemay. “The children are sad that it’s over, but at the same time, they can’t wait to go back to school, to see their friends, to eat Grandma’s pancakes”, she illustrates.