Divine inspiration

Born blind with a rare disease called Leber’s Congenital Amaurosis, Brooke Pernice tells the crowd at First Christian Church in Blue Springs how she feels lucky to not be able to see, because this way it has allowed her not to judge people on how they look, but to see people from the inside.
With a confidence and wisdom rare for a girl of 14, Brooke charmed the crowd of almost 100 people with her sense of humor, gospel word, and most of all, her voice.
Brooke, daughter of Raytown graduate and PGA Tour golfer Tom Pernice, performed at the church as part of her Vision Tour 2009 on Tuesday night. Backed by a four-piece band, Brooke sang a mixture of originals and covers, the audience clapping along to the rhythm of her Christian country ballads.
“This is what the Lord wanted me to do and something I really enjoy doing,” Brooke said. “I love music as well and I wanted to do what the Lord told me to.”
Brooke testifies during her performance that when she was 7, the Lord told her she would lead a worldwide ministry through her music, and later, God spoke to her again and told her that it was time to start doing concerts and public speaking. She has been taking vocal lessons since she was 8, but says things really began taking off last year.
Brooke’s mother, Sydney, is the ultimate mom, traveling with Brooke from their home in California for the tour. The Pernice family is non-stop with their older daughter’s cheerleading, Brooke’s 55 shows this year and Tom’s golf tournaments.
“They are all doing what they love to do,” she said. “I love to be in the background and support all of them.”
Sydney has had a big part in helping create Brooke’s lyrics.
“I think the way that I got totally into her ministry is the Lord started sending His lyrics to me, and I would wake up in the middle of the night and yell at her to turn down her music and realize then that I was the only one hearing this.”
Within a couple of months, Sydney gave her the lyrics to eight of her first nine songs, and Brooke and her piano player put them to music. Within a few months they put out Brooke’s CD. The Fellowship of Christian Athletes called to request a performance and testimony, and after that, Sydney said, word-of-mouth got out, and people just began calling and asking for Brooke to perform.
“We are so blessed,” Sydney said. “She is blind, but she has never felt sorry for herself a day in her life. She is a role model for other teenagers who think that their lives are so bad… If it (her music) can just make a few people just stop and think about how great their life is and how fortunate they are. Her motto is she wants to change this world, one day at a time.”
LCA is a rare, hereditary disorder in which retinas do not develop fully at birth. This leads to retinal dysfunction and visual impairment, according to the Foundation for Retinal Research.
When Brooke was 2 years old, her family took her to Santa Monica after hearing about an acupuncture doctor who had helped a blind woman to see again. Within three weeks of treatment, Brooke began to get more light perception.
“So we asked our parents to pack our house and move it to us and we never came back,” Sydney said.
Her vision got better, and at one point in kindergarten Brooke could see some colors, although that did not last. Brooke can now see good shadowing and light perception since she began the acupuncture regiment.
Sydney said they are now trying to raise money through donations from Brooke’s tour for Carver Lab, the leading genetic testing lab for LCA, which has healed 11 people with Brooke’s disease last year.
The audience at Brooke’s performance was very receptive to her testimony and music.
Joyce Woelbel of Lee’s Summit thought Brooke was very moving and enjoyable, and said she would love to see Brooke perform again.
Woelbel’s daughter, Julia, 11, enjoyed her singing and looked up to the fact that Brooke was not nervous onstage.
A less-than shy Dakota Kilgore, 8, thought Brooke was pretty and wanted to meet her.
When it comes to her audience, Brooke says she hopes to be able to inspire people.
“I want people who don’t know the Lord to come to Him, or inspire them in some way,” she said. “Kids will write me letters and notes and give them to me. To inspire them is something that I really want to do.”
Sydney thinks Brooke can inspire children in the pursuit of God more than adults can.
“Kids let their defenses down because of her disability, or maybe they feel sorry for her the second she takes the stage, but at the end maybe they want what she has,” she said. “It’s something between the Holy Spirit. She is able to touch them in a way I don’t think an adult can speak to them.”