Lead By Faith, Not By Sight W
inzer David Turner, Jr. was born in Ruston/Grambling, Louisiana. David’s dad was in the military, so his family moved around a lot during his childhood. Unfortunately, at the age of twelve David’s mother passed away. This caused David and his brother having to move to California with their father. When he became a junior in high school, David became very active; he started playing the trumpet in the band, and after a couple of years he switched to the drumline. He was also a member of the chess club. By David’s junior year in high school, he decided that he wanted to move back to Grambling and live with his grandmother. David became a church musician at the age of thirteen and he still currently plays for his church today. He plays the keyboard, the piano, and the organ.
THE INTERVIEW
AMPS: How old were you when you started playing the piano? David: I started playing the piano when I was about six years old. AMPS: What year were you diagnosed as a diabetic? David: I was diagnosed as a diabetic in 1996. AMPS: When did you start losing your vision? David: In 2011, I started getting sick and I had a retinal detachment that needed surgical repair. After surgery is when I lost sight in my left eye. In the beginning of 2013, I noticed that it was hard for me to see traffic lights and by the time summer came I could not see the back of vehicles that were in front of me. I ended up running into the back of a truck one day due to my vision. My illness went to a completely new level and in September of 2013 is when I completely lost my eyesight. AMPS: You have another illness called Gastroparesis. When were you diagnosed with that and is there a cure for it? David: I was diagnosed back in 2011. Gastroparesis is caused by diabetes and diabetes causes your blood vessels to weaken and shrink. The blood vessels are not able to be used properly; therefore, it causes issues with the organs they are attached to. Gastroparesis comes from the vessels that lead to the stomach. This has caused my stomach to become somewhat paralyzed and now I am not able to digest food properly. Where it would take some people only a few hours to digest their food it takes my stomach at least 11 or 12 hours total to digest one meal. It is very painful, and it causes me to ball up in the fetal position. People normally eat every five hours and by the time they eat again, their food has digested, but in my case if I eat another meal five hours after the first meal it just adds on top of the food that I ate earlier. This causes me to throw up. Throwing up a lot causes me a lot of pain in my stomach.
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