12-year-old boy, facing blindness in weeks, goes on bucket-list tour

Louis Corbett, 12, has retinitis pigmentosa a progressive disorder that eventually deteriorates vision over the course of decades. In his case, his vision may be gone in weeks.

(CNN) As will also happen to two of his older brothers, 12-year-old Louis Corbett will one day be blind.

The three young New Zealanders have retinitis pigmentosa a progressive disorder that eventually deteriorates vision over the course of decades.

But for the youngest of the five Corbett children, that day will come much sooner.

Last year was a hard one for poor Louie, mother Catherine Corbett told CNN over the phone from their home in Auckland. Thats when he learned that his case was accelerated.

Though it may seem like a coincidence of extraordinary odds that three young brothers would be stricken with retinitis pigmentosa, it really isnt. Though rare, the disease is hereditary.

Faced with the grim reality that Louie will soon lose the ability to see the world around him, the Corbetts decided to embark on an international sightseeing tour. This year were going to try and fill his world with as many beautiful images as we can, his mother told CNN.

Instructed to make something of an ocular bucket list things and places hed like to see for the first, only and likely last time Louie picked places like the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, the Empire State Building and, in a sign of the times, Google headquarters in California.

For some reason he really got hooked on American basketball, his mom said. He cares about nothing else. He is really quite passionate about it.

Louies number one wish was to go to Boston to see his beloved Celtics play a game.

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12-year-old boy, facing blindness in weeks, goes on bucket-list tour