Faith in an unseen power

Kris Belcher lives her life by feel.

The mother of two uses feel to find the phone when it rings. She feels for spills on the kitchen counter to wipe up. She feels for people who, like her, suffer through harrowing experiences.

Blinded five years ago when cancer completely took her sight, Belcher performs all her daily tasks in the dark.

\"Everything is by feel,\" she said. \"So I wash my hands a lot.\"

It's also by feel that she's gotten through her most difficult times. Belcher had to have multiple surgeries in 2004 to remove cancers from her right eye and ocular nerve, the result of radiation treatments when she was an infant. Her younger son, Benjamin, was just 1 at the time, a happy, cuddly baby. Belcher said touching his smiling mouth gave her hope during a very dark, sick time of her life.

\"His smile helped me a lot when I lost my vision,\" she said. \"It was so hard not to see him, but ... I could feel his smile and it really helped my heart.\"

The 38-year-old returned Mormon missionary said she's also learned to trust in a power that is unseen to even people with perfect eyesight. She's relied on faith — her belief in a loving God who has a plan.

\"Part of the mortal experience is to have trials to stretch us and prove us and help us become more like Christ,\" she said.

That belief gives her hope and purpose on difficult days.

\"It's a hard thing to be blind. I have days where I'm frustrated and wish that I didn't have to be blind — wish that I didn't have to go through life in the dark,\" she said. \"(But) it's obviously a blessing that my life could be preserved and a blessing that I could be able to testify of how Christ has helped me through it.\"

At 7 months old, Belcher was diagnosed with bilateral retinoblastoma, a condition consisting of multiple tumors growing on the retinas of both her eyes. She underwent radiation for months and the cancer was eventually eliminated.

She retained some vision in both her eyes. Eventually, though, she lost sight in her left eye and it was removed. The more recent bout of cancer resulted in the removal of her right.