<P> Shirley "Shirl" Jennings (1940--October 26, 2003) was one of only a few people in the world to regain his sight after lifelong blindness and was the inspiration for the character of Virgil Adamson in the movie At First Sight (1999) starring Val Kilmer and Mira Sorvino . </P> <P> Born in Bedford County, Virginia in 1940, at age 3 Shirl became dangerously ill with three illnesses at once: meningitis, polio, and cat scratch fever . "His sickness plunged him into a coma, from which he emerged after two weeks with paralyzed legs and damaged eyesight . When he was 7 or 8, Jennings was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a progressive, untreatable disease of the retina that causes blindness . By the time he was 10, he could distinguish only light from dark . He attended the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind and later the YMCA School of Swedish Massage ." </P>

Is the movie at first sight based on a true story