KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — After a rocket blast during the Vietnam War led to the loss of his vision, Ed Collins describes the moment he stopped feeling sorry for himself in physical therapy.
“A guy came in there in a wheelchair, had both of his legs blown off. And he had a great attitude. And from that day on, I've never looked back,” said Collins. “It made me realize that there's always somebody worse off than you are, if you look around."
He has lived around 40 years without the ability to see.
In his mid-twenties, after his war service, the East Tennessee native came home. He met a girl. They married. They celebrated the birth of a daughter, and Ed Collins became a farmer.
“You don't have to see to set out a tomato plant or milk a cow or break a calf to lead,” said Collins.
He dug postholes, fixed fences, and loaded hay on a wagon. Sometimes, if he was at the wheel of the tractor, family members trailing him would honk once to turn one way and honk twice to turn the other.
“You just use the knowledge you got,” said Collins.
After losing his wife of 46 years, the 81-year-old wounded warrior lives alone. His daughter checks on him regularly and his church family in the Rutledge community keeps an eye on him as well. But one parishioner told 10News the retired farmer in the nearby pew is so adept at getting around on his own, that she forgets he is blind.
“I read about five or six hours a day or more. That's mostly what to do because I don't have any animals or critters or farm work to do," he said.
He has options for reading, playing games, and communicating with a community of blind friends online. The VA helped with his computer setup. It offers access to thousands of audiobooks through a special hand-held reader, and Collins can still read the full Bible in brail from expansive pages that look more like they would hold a map or landscape photos instead of the thousands of paper dimples doubling as words on the page.
“I've been blessed with a good life. The Lord brought me back (from Vietnam) on the prayers of my mom and dad, and I got saved when I was about 42 years old," he said. "I was able to have a good wife that loved me, and raise a family, and be a participant and contribute to make my community church a better place, and live life full.”