In The Island of the Colorbind, Oliver Sacks describes a Norwegian named Knut suffering from achromatopsia (complete colorblindness - in the general population only 1 in 30,000 suffers from the disorder) landing on the island of Pingelap where fifteen percent of the population has the same disorder:

Though Knut had read the scientific literature, and though he had occassionally met other achromatopic people, this had in no way prepared him for the impact of actually finding himself surrounded by his own kind, strangers half a world away with whom he had an instant kinship.
-page 53

I had always wanted to find such a place. My island. I went to a high school nicknamed the Island, I came to Manhattan ( another island of the unusual-or at least it used to be), but I never had that feeling of being surrounded by others who knew, who understood.

After the blogathon was over, I was scrolling through my comments. Because I was running two blogs, Bunniblog and All About Boys, and the computer I was on kept acting hinky it was hard to keep track of anything other than the next post. As I was scrolling through I discovered a woman named Nikki had posted a comment for her blogathon blog. I followed the link and discovered that she was blogging for the Children's Neuroblastoma Cancer Fund, and she was posting the profiles of children who had or currently were coping with this disease.

When I talk about what caused my disability, I am often vague. Rarely do I identify the specific form of cancer because the few times I have, the response is typically a skeptical "Well, I haven't heard of it." As if I have the time and energy to invent non-existent types of cancer. So generally I say, "I had cancer" and leave it at that.

I had also never met another person who had suffered from this type of cancer. Not one.

Until I followed those comments. And for the first time in 30 years, I found children who had the same disorder I did. And as sad as some of those profiles are, I felt such relief. I wasn't alone. There are others: Kylie, Abbie, Dylan, Keira, Ruth, Georgia, Connor, Josh, Codey, Anna, Raymond, Erin, Susan, Kaitlyn, Benjamen, Ethan, Razak, Eden, Chandler, Aleah, Daniel, Samantha, Sydney, Sean, and Micah.


Oh brave new world.

Quite unexpectedly, the blogathon helped me to find my island, surrounded by strangers who are sometimes more than half a world away with whom I have a kinship.