On November 22nd, while everyone else was preparing their bodies for the feast we call Thanksgiving, one little boy was undergoing a major milestone in his life — one that got shared in a TikTok video. After two and a half years of vision impairment, he put on a pair of glasses for the first time in his life – seeing the world how he has never seen it before.
His mother Samantha captured the moment on video and posted it for the entire world to see. Little did she know the video would go viral, leaving TikTok users with tears in their eyes as they witnessed Hunter seeing clearly for the first time in his life – something most of us take for granted.
And don’t worry if you got emotional during the video – we all did, including Hunter and his family. It was a special moment that gave the little boy a different outlook on life, one he never knew existed. We’re so glad they caught it on video, which is just another reason why we’re thankful to have TikTok in our lives.
During the video, Hunter was speechless once his mother fitted him with his new glasses – partly due to the amazement he felt, but partly due to him being a two-year-old boy who didn’t have the words to express himself. Either way, it made for an adorable moment as the only word that came out was ‘yeah.’
And he said it a dozen times as his mother asked him a flurry of questions about the glasses. “What do you think?” “Do you like them?” “Can you see?” “Look how handsome!” “Do you like it?” “Can you see everything?” “Can you see better?” “Are you crying?” “Can you see Daddy different?” asked Samantha in the TikTok video.
With each ‘Yeah’ response, you could see Hunter’s eyes start to tear up and while he never bursts out crying, you can tell he wanted to as he was overcome with emotion he has never felt before – largely because he was seeing things in a way he has never seen them before. It was a new world to him.
There was a moment in the video where he stared into his father’s eyes for several minutes and you could see the look in Hunter’s eyes – as if he was meeting his father for the first time. It was like he was studying or reading a book, focusing on every little detail that he struggled to see before the glasses.
The TikTok Video Went Viral in No Time
Now one week later, the TikTok video has garnered more than 2.2 million views, over 435,000 likes, and more than 4,500 comments from users all around the world. “Seeing the world clear for the first time in 2 1/2 years brought tears to everyone including our little boy,” Samantha captioned the emotional video.
“It was so special. My heart melted. When he looked in the mirror and looked back at me his tears just welled up in his eyes. I just started crying,” said Hunter’s mother, Samantha Ryan, in an interview with WBZ-TV. The family was surprised at the immediate difference it made in their child’s quality of life.
The father, Viktor Ryan, couldn’t help but notice the difference it made. “You can immediately see the difference in the activity and the accuracy of kicking the ball. I thought that was very encouraging,” said Viktor. They eventually took Hunter outside, where he was amazed at the trees and all the other details.
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The little boy is teaching us all a lesson of gratitude – which comes at the perfect time as we say goodbye to Thanksgiving (at least for now) and welcome in the rest of the holiday season. That lesson is one that teaches us how to appreciate the little things in life – we often forget how lucky we really are.
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