Name: Mike Fry
Age: 44
Where do you live?
I live in Carmel, Indiana: however I was born and raised mostly in Northern California, which is where I met and married my wife. A little over 10 years ago we moved to the East Coast for her to attend a great business school. She entered a career in finance, and when Covid hit we moved to Indiana, which is more affordable but still a short flight to New York. We visit family in California at least once a year and my wife flies to NYC several times a month.
How many relatives do you have with BCM?
I have at least 6 close relatives with BCM: my younger brother, 3 cousins from my mom’s identical twin sister, my mom’s cousin, and my mom’s grandfather.
What is your job/would you like your job to be?
I am a stay at home dad to 5 wonderful children. Before that I was an attorney for the State of California in the Department of Health Care Services.
What are your hobbies?
My hobby is exercising. Each day I try to lift weights for about 45 minutes, do an hour of cardio on the elliptical, and walk 10,000 steps.
Another hobby of mine is practicing Catholicism. I pray several times a day, listen to Catholic podcasts ect., regularly attend Sunday mass, and receive the sacraments. I love it. I can not adequately express how much comfort and solace it gives me. As GK Chesterton said “the church is larger on the inside than it is on the outside” – it’s an inexhaustible resource.
Another hobby of mine is listening to news, particularly the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. I also very much enjoy scrolling through X (formerly Twitter).
What is your most useful BCM tip?
When I was about 25 years old I started using surgery scopes as a low vision aid for reading. They are humongous and embarrassing to wear around people in public, so I can’t recommend them for everyone, but nevertheless they let me read comfortably at home, which has improved my life in some ways.
What would you tell younger BCM boys/your younger self?
If you learn and accept that you are visually impaired, it can be a relief because it explains why you can not do so many things others do easily. The psychological baggage that goes with having BCM is extreme. You have excellent mobility so at some level you forget that you’re very visually impaired. Remember 2 things: 1) be a good person, do not sin, have a clean conscience- this will relieve some of the anxiety that is inherent from having a major disability: 2) do not be ashamed of having a disability, but accept it because it explains so much of the difficulties in your life. Don’t be overly ambitious, perhaps seek a profession in the visually impaired community. Not only will you be helping people more unfortunate than yourself, but it will remind you of how much you have to be grateful for.
Greatest achievement/proudest moment so far..
Getting married and having children is the best thing that has happened to me (besides receiving the sacraments and praying). I regard it as a miracle because it’s something that I never thought would happen. It was like starting a new, better, and more real life.
Not many people know this about me but…
I have completed a lot of higher education. I have BA in psychology, an MA in experimental psychology (where I studied BCM for 2 years), a JD, and an LLM in biotechnology and genomics.
