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As busy as he was from the start of his ranching and business career and as much ground as he had to travel, it only made sense to fly.  And in 1951, he earned his pilot's license. For the next forty years, he flew for business and pleasure.

"My wife, Mary, and I would pack up our three kids, put them in the back seat, and head off on vacation. My son Dan got his pilot's license the day he turned seventeen, and Tom at eighteen."   While Tom still works in the family business, Dan recently left the business to become a pilot with a Delta subsidiary. Their daughter Mary worked in the business for several years then left to stay home and care for her two children.

In 1985, Tom bought a turbo-charged Mooney, a high-performance, single engine airplane that carries four passengers.  This flying cowboy was a vital, energetic, robust healthy man who enjoyed his life, his work, and especially, flying...until 1991 when life dealt a heavy blow.

Tom Jordan had rarely thought about his vision. He took FAA medicals every two years to renew his pilot's license. With 20/15 or 20/20 vision, he never thought about how precious sight was until one morning in 1991 when he bumped his head on a horse trailer.

 "The next morning, my vision was different. I had experienced a hemorrhage and the doctor said it didn't scar and heal as it should. Although that accident wasn't responsible for AMD, it exacerbated the onset of the disease."

Six weeks later, he went to a retinal specialist and was told his vision had deteriorated quickly, but he still had 20/15 vision in the other eye.  The biggest dilemma was that Tom had to wait for six months to get certified as a "one-eyed pilot." The day before Christmas Eve, he suddenly lost the vision in the other eye.

"I pretty much floundered around that winter, feeling sorry for myself."  Losing his vision was devastating. "I couldn't tell a dollar bill from a hundred dollar bill, much less fly an airplane," he said.

That spring, Tom saw a news item in National Geographic on Dr. Henry Kaplan at the Barnes Retina Institute, which is part of Washington University in St. Louis.  He was performing a procedure called sub-macular surgery. Shortly thereafter, he saw another news story on CNN featuring the same physician.

Although it was too late for one eye, he flew to St. Louis to have the surgery done on the other eye and was able to keep his peripheral vision.  "It was so helpful, I couldn't believe it. I remember turning on the television to see a McDonald's commercial. The colors were brighter. There was a noticeable difference," he said.  "In 1993, they were doing sub-macular surgery. Later, they went a step beyond that surgery and began to do a procedure called macular translocation."

For several years, Tom couldn't even get a driver's license, let alone fly as pilot in command. The frustrating turn of events took its toll on his normally upbeat personality. "But you can only mourn for yourself so long. Then you come to terms with the fact that the person you knew is changed or gone. I felt bad for several months, but I kicked it after surgery. I decided to become my own low vision specialist."

Today, he lives a "pretty normal life." He uses several low-vision tools that are available through various resources.  "I discovered the Ocutech 6X VES-II glasses and they were so helpful, I was able to take my driver's test and get my license back. I took the same written and driving test as any applicant.  I was driving my truck the other day, pulling a horse trailer in a driving thunderstorm. I felt fine but the horse seemed nervous!" he laughed.

Tom's wife drives most of the time, but he hasn't lost his independence.

"Yesterday, I was out on horseback all day, checking stock salt and ponds." He's one of those people whose positive spirit will prevail, regardless of the circumstance. "It seems like there are people who get down and out and stay down and out. They don't want to try the options available to them. As for me, I don't even dignify AMD by calling it a disease. It's not like a cancer of the eye. To me, it's a condition. You've lost part of your vision, but you can't let it destroy you. I guess if you have to have some kind of condition, it's not too bad a condition to have."

Tom often goes online on the Internet to research new vision aids and to discuss his findings with others who are wrestling with AMD. And although he can't be "pilot in command" anymore, he still enjoys flying with his son.