HE SAW A HUMMINGBIRD

Despite severe diabetes, Russell Ogg was a successful photographer who traveled worldwide with his wife, journalist Norma Lee Browning. He's always been able to cope with anything, but when diabetes began to rob him of his sight, "it was like a violinist losing his fingers."When Norma Lee saw him sitting day after day on the patio of their home in Palm Springs, slumped in despair, his sightless eyes fixed on nothing, she too became depressed. But a miracle was about to happen.Then suddenly a red hummingbird appeared that changed their lives.Norma Lee frankly describes her doubts and the errors she made in identifying the birds her husband tried to photograph. She also concludes, from her close observation of the hummers, that "the experts" are wrong on many counts.But the miracle that provides the heart-warming conclusion to this unusual story involves Russell Ogg's eyesight. His sight improved. His eye doctor said he saw better than it was possible for him to see. "There is no way to explain medically how he does it ... his photographs tell us something about the magnificence of man."His inspiring story is a testament to human courage and hope.

Norma Lee Browning is a former Chicago Tribune reporter and the widow of Russell Ogg, a former photographer for the Chicago Daily News. Ms. Browning lives in Palm Springs, California.