Boy regains sight after taxi crash

A North West mother claims her visually impaired son can see better after being hit by a taxi, Beeld reported yesterday.

Gerhard van der Merwe, 7, was almost blind in his right eye until a taxi hit him outside his home in Potchefstroom two weeks ago, his mother, Gretha , was quoted as saying.

Gerhard has been wearing glasses since the age of nine months after being born with a visual impairment.

"He could barely distinguish light and dark with his right eye," said his mother.

But this all changed after the taxi accident.

"He did not see the taxi. He flew 12m through the air."

Gerhard sustained an eye injury and a light concussion.

"In hospital he kept saying to us that he can see. His right eye was swollen so I thought he meant that the swelling was going down. But he kept saying it."

At an eye doctor's rooms, he could suddenly read "from the biggest letter to the smallest on the eye chart".

Beeld also spoke to Dr Gideon du Plessis of the Eye Institute in Pretoria.

"We have been treating him and his eye had definitely started improving as a result of the treatment."

Van der Merwe, however, insists Gerhard's improved vision was a miracle.