JUSTIN Grant loved building model airplanes.
As a boy, he pictured himself one day strapped into the cockpit of an F-14 fighter jet, screaming above the clouds like those daring young pilots in the 1980s movie Top Gun.
In high school, the teenager shared his lifelong dream with military recruiters.
Not surprisingly, they never called him back.
"I don't think they want blind people flying $60 million planes,''
Grant said with a smile.
Diagnosed in the fifth grade with a rare early onset form of macular degeneration, the 21-year-old University of North Texas student has leaned on his religious faith and learned through new friendships to count his blessings and feel grateful for life's opportunities.
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Grant discovered another way - one he never imagined - to experience exhilaration at high altitude.
Three years ago, he became a mountain climber.
Grant filled his lungs with the rarefied air from the 19,340-foot top of Kilimanjaro.
This summer he climbed majestic Mount Rainier.
In the company of sighted, totally blind and other visually impaired mountaineers, Grant has found peace of mind and come to terms with the disease that is robbing him of his vision.
"Going blind has definitely been more a blessing than a curse,''
Grant said. "For me, it opened up the door to climbing. Blind people can climb mountains, as weird as it sounds. ... I'm doing things now that I once thought weren't reasonable.''
At age 10, Grant learned why he was having difficulties at school.
He has Stargardt's disease, a genetic condition that affects about 1 in 10,000 children. The disease is often misdiagnosed or not diagnosed during the first few years of onset. Symptoms include blurry or distorted vision and an inability to see in low lighting.
Progressive loss of central vision leads to legal blindness.
Growing up, Grant couldn't see well enough to play baseball or football. As an adolescent, he didn't want friends to think of him as different. He only wanted to fit in and be treated like everyone else.
He resisted - often resented - those who offered him help.
"Justin didn't want to talk about it,'' his father said. "He didn't want people to know.''
Stargardt's disease is incurable, and its progress unpredictable.
Grant only knew for certain that he was remarkably unlucky. Unlike others, he couldn't see in high definition. He would never wear a pilot's flight suit. Or drive a car. Over time, his visual world would narrow, and his color images dim, little by little.
And there was nothing he could do about it.
Stargardt's disease can't be corrected by prescription eyeglasses or contact lenses.
But the young man's life took a turn upward - literally - after his junior year at Kennedale High School. Kevin Markel is a Division for Blind Services counselor with the Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services.
Like Grant, he has Stargardt's disease. Markel, 38, has lost all but his peripheral vision.
"Kevin was the only person I could relate to at the time,'' Grant said of the friendship they forged.
The counselor thought of Grant when he learned about a proposed trip to South America for a small group of blind, visually impaired and sighted students sponsored by Global Explorers. Markel forwarded the information to Grant's parents.
Grant applied for the adventure, submitting two essays. To his surprise, he was selected.
The nine sighted, five blind and four visually impaired students from across the United States met at a weekend retreat in Estes Park, Colo.
Among them was Kyle Coon. Born with a retinal disease, the Florida teen had both eyes removed as a child because of the toll that radiation and chemotherapy had taken. Grant also met Terry Garrett, who underwent 22 eye surgeries before losing his vision at age 10.
"I don't let my blindness control me,'' Garrett would later tell his new friend. "I control my blindness.''
The 18 students were introduced to the expedition leader, Erik Weihenmayer, the first and only blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Weihenmayer's inspirational memoir is titled "Touch the Top of the World.''
In June 2006, the students flew to Peru and hiked the super Inca trail. The journey, which took them to an altitude of 15,000 feet, ended at Machu Picchu, the mysterious ruins known as the "Lost City of the Incas.''
"I didn't know what to expect,'' Grant recalled. "Our only training was a short walk through the Rocky Mountain National Park. In Peru, I was guiding totally blind students. We joked about it. 'Is this really smart? The blind leading the blind?' ''
Afterward, Grant watched a segment on ABC's "Nightline'' about the trip.
"Erik said something in an interview that really affected me,''
Grant said. "He said the visually impaired are in a kind of no man's land. We desperately want to hang on to being sighted. I had been in denial. It was like, 'I'm not really going blind. Well, maybe I am, but I'm going to play it off like I'm not.'
"I thought about what Erik said. I told myself, 'I'm going to accept it.' And I have. It has changed my whole perspective.''
Grant helped organize Team Sight Unseen, a climbing group of blind, visually impaired and sighted mountaineers.
A year after the Peru trip, Grant and others scaled Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. On the sixth day of the climb, they reached the top, greeted by the majesty of a beautiful sunrise.
On the way up, Grant had wondered how much he would be able to see.
"I realized I didn't really care,'' he said.
What he felt as he took in the view - self-satisfaction, the sense of accomplishment - filled his heart.
He thought of his climbing team's motto:
"It's not the destination that matters, but how you get there.''
Grant and four sighted friends took on a more technically demanding challenge in July when they scaled Mount Rainier, the most heavily glaciated peak (14,410 feet) in the contiguous United States. Weather, snow and route conditions can change rapidly.
Tied together by rope, the team used ice axes and crampons, spiked iron plates to prevent their boots from slipping.
Joe Mayfield, a sighted climber, served as Grant's partner. Up they went, carefully searching for footholds.
"In certain lighting, Justin has pretty good vision. Other times it's pretty poor,'' Mayfield said. "Because of the wind and snow, you can get lost in your own little world.''
"You have a team for a reason,'' Grant said. "You have to trust them.''
Each success spawns a new goal, the next challenge. Grant would like to climb Mount McKinley because his father grew up in Alaska. His team is also considering tackling Mount Aconcagua in South America, the highest (22,841 feet) outside of Asia.