Melbourne rapper/hip hop artist 360 hasn’t let the degenerative eye condition keratoconus get in the way of life. In fact, reduced vision ironically diverted his path from a career in sport as a talented basketballer to a successful rapper.
Matt Colwell, as he is otherwise known, is one of up to 50,000 Aussies with keratoconus, a thinning of the central zone of the cornea, the transparent layer over the front of the eye. As it progresses, normal eye pressure causes the round shape of the cornea to distort and a cone-like bulge develops, resulting in significant visual impairment.
The disease has left 360 legally blind in his right eye and he has undergone two procedures to stop the condition worsening. They include a corneal transplant in the right eye and a relatively new procedure in the other, a transplant alternative called corneal collagen cross-linking where vitamin B2 drops are placed on the eye before it is exposed to UV light to help stop disease progression. A Medicare rebate will become available from May for this procedure.
360 refuses to let his vision loss affect his attitude, instead adopting an optimistic outlook and learning from and embracing the experience by singing about it. He turned something negative -a deteriorating vision condition and giving up his dream of playing professional basketball - into a positive – focusing his energy on developing a promising music career.
“I talk about it in numerous songs and in 'Miracle in a costume' I really go in depth about the whole experience,” 360 said. “One of the lyrics is ‘Going half blind made me see more clearly’ which is something I truly believe.
“At the time I was devastated and thought I had nothing else to live for but looking back on it now, I realise it was the best thing to happen to me because it forced me to focus on my music.”
Matt told his story to Good vision for life to create awareness about keratoconus and promote organ donation.
Keratoconus usually begins in the teenage years, and is more aggressive when diagnosed in adolescence, but it can also start in childhood or up to about age 30. While it does not cause blindness, it can lead to disabling vision loss.
360 announced on Facebook in 2012 that he had the condition and had undergone a corneal transplant about six years earlier. He posted this picture on his Facebook showing the stitches.
