At age 14, Justin Salas' vision began rapidly slipping away from him, seemingly out of nowhere.
Less than a year after his symptoms first appeared, doctors declared Justin legally blind, without being able to definitively explain why this was now his new reality.
The closest this Tulsa, OK, native and his family got to a diagnosis was that he was suffering from "optic neuropathy of unknown origin."
His optic nerves had died, and Justin's life was forever changed.
Losing his sight spiraled Justin down into a deep depression. He spent whole days seated in front of an oversize computer screen, clinging to the mild comfort of familiar, yet fuzzy, shapes he could barely make out.
Around this same time, Justin's friend, Beau Johnson, moved back home, and slowly but surely, tempted Justin to start exploring the peripheral vision he still had left.
What started with a simple bike ride slowly morphed into Justin developing an unbelievable rock-climbing habit and skyrocketing photography business — two realities seemingly impossible for someone suffering from such impaired vision.
Keep scrolling to learn more about this unbelievable young man, who spends every day testing the limits of his life without sight.
[H/T: The Washington Post]
Since he was a small child, Justin Salas wore glasses. However, once his freshman year of high school began, his eyesight started rapidly deteriorating at an alarming rate.
The Tulsa, OK, native's parents drove him all the way to Oklahoma City's Dean McGee Eye Institute for answers, but not even their experts could reveal the mystery behind Justin's sudden blindness.
Not even a full year later, Justin was declared legally blind.
His optic nerves had died. All that remained was his peripheral vision, and Justin was crushed.
After losing his sight, Justin mostly kept to himself.
He'd stay in his room, going whole days without talking to others.
Instead, he'd sit staring at an oversize monitor, making out blurry letters and shapes here and there, desperately clinging to the seeing-life he once knew.
Shortly after Justin's dramatic life change, an old friend of his, Beau Johnson, moved back into town.
Slowly but surely, Beau began inching Justin out of his newly limited comfort zone, one friendly challenge at a time.
As the Washington Post wrote, Beau asked Justin, "So, why can’t you ride your bike? You can see some, right? You have peripheral vision."
Justin considered this truth, and agreed to try taking a stunt bike ride with his friend.
One ride quickly turned into a regular hobby.
As Justin's newly deemed "seeing-eye person," Beau would alert him of upcoming obstacles along their routes, whilst the two young men practiced all sorts of different tricks.
After Justin accepted Beau's first biking challenge, Beau decided to throw another curveball his friend's way.
He invited Justin to come rock climbing at a nearby climbing gym.
He sold Justin on the idea by explaining that climbing is not a seeing sport, but rather a feeling sport.
Challenge accepted, Justin began his climbing career.
He soon developed a love of bouldering — climbing sans ropes, with only strategically placed mats below to break one's fall.
As Justin told the Washington Post of climbing: "The process is feeling all the holds and having someone tell me where the holds are.
“Then I feel every shape of the hold, which direction it goes. I start memorizing and putting pieces together and memorizing how my body feels when I’m in certain positions so I know, whenever I go back to do it again, how it feels.
"And then I do the route over and over again, even if it takes falling dozens and dozens of times.”
Just as dominating his biking challenge opened the door for Justin to consider taking up climbing, so, too, did conquering climbing pave a new route guiding Justin toward pursuing his next passion: photography.
Justin began exploring his talents behind the lens, using his four remaining senses to guide his shots' focus and composition.
While in person, Justin couldn't necessarily see the images his lens would capture, once he returned home, he'd blow up his shots using his 27-inch cinema display monitor.
Using this monitor, he could pixelate images, making their moments of contrast accessible to his particular eye.
Over time, Justin's photos only improved. Now, he has his own photography business — specializing in landscapes, adventure shots, and brand photos.
By taking his life one challenge at a time, this young man is redefining what living life as a blind person can be.
He wrote of climbing on his Instagram: "I honestly don’t know who I’d be without climbing.
"It’s given me so much, through the friends I’ve made, the positive outlook on life, the ability to tell my story to the world through a whole new light, and the companies that have so graciously given me a platform to tell it.
"I’m stoked my blindness can be inspiring to people, and I don’t take it lightly, it only serves to make me work harder and be the best I can be."
In November, he and a buddy will attempt their boldest bouldering trip yet.
They'll spend a full month climbing in Joe's Valley, UT, followed by another month in Bishop, CA.
While this young man might live without sight, his life is certainly not lacking friendship, laughter, love, and adventure.
What do you think of Justin's determination? Have you ever gone rock climbing? Tell us all about your adventures in the comments below.
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