Bartholomew Lampion was blinded at the age of three when surgeons reluctantly removed his eyes to save him from a fast-spreading cancer but although eyeless Barty regained his sight when he was thirteen. This sudden ascent from a decade of darkness into the glory of light was not brought about by a holy healer. No celestial trumpets announced the restoration of his vision just as none had announced his birth. A rollercoaster had something to do with his recovery as did a seagull. & you cant discount Bartys profound desire to make his mother proud of him before she died. The first time she died was the day Barty was born. January 6 1965.