Watch: SA man facing potential blindness gets best surprise from girlfriend

Photo Credit: Screengrab / Vimeo

Paul Jennings, suffering from Usher Syndrome, received the surprise of a lifetime all thanks to his girlfriend; she teamed up with his favourite band.

Durban, South Africa – Darren Gordon, an executive producer at They (they shoot films), shared a beautiful story with us. He first heard about it in April of this year when meeting up with an old friend. Darren asked his friend, Louis Roux, the bassist of the band Shadowclub if he had been up to anything interesting of late.

This opened the discussion of a story so inspiring, They made a short film about it.

A fan of Shadowclub, Erin Mitchell, reached out on their Facebook page to find out about their upcoming gigs. As they were set to tour Durban, she was hoping they had a daytime gig on the list. Sadly, they didn’t.

Erin went on to explain that her boyfriend, Paul Jennings, has Usher Syndrome. Usher Syndrome is a condition characterised by partial or total hearing loss and vision loss that worsens over time. The loss of vision is caused by an eye disease called retinitis pigmentosa (RP), which affects the layer of light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye (the retina)

Due to this, Paul is unable to go out at night as his vision is so severely affected. Erin thanked Louis for chatting to her and left it at that. Louis however, approached his fellow bandmates Jacques Moolman and Isaac Klawansky to see if they could do something for Paul.

Paul loves Shadowclub, according to Erin, he listens to the band 24/7 as loud as possible. The band decided to give Paul a private show during the day. They set up at a family member’s home and invited some of Paul’s friends to attend the private show as well. The surprise was set to be a tear-jerker.

They (they shoot films) quickly jumped on board to film the incredible act of kindness. The plan was to shoot the big day in a documentary style.

“Being the producer that I am, I spoke to my business partner and we decided we had to get involved here.
Stories like this do not come around often and it would have been a tragedy if one would not film such an amazing initiative.” – Darren Gordon

John and Adam from They did a great job. The guys made sure the short film showed just how heartwarming the surprise was and told Paul’s story in an informative way.

The atmosphere at the private show was incredible. After the show, They (they shoot films) approached Retina South Africa, a non-profit organisation that is a patient-driven action group with offices or groups in all the major centres in South Africa. They are actively involved in research, therapy, creating awareness and fundraising for people with genetic eye conditions.

They (they shoot films) hoped that through this short film, Retina South Africa would be able to raise awareness about Retinitis Pigmentosa.

The surprise was something Paul never expected. When he arrived, he thought the surprise was for someone else.

“I can’t tell you what an experience that day was for me. It was unreal dude! Especially when you’ve had such a tough year. You know, trying to deal with all this disability as well. Every day just gets worse and worse but these little things are a crazy motivation through life and it can arrange a lot in your mind and keep you going, keep you going forward. Keep you smiling bru” – Paul Jennings

Take a look at the inspiring short film below.