"Born three and a half months prematurely, Derek Paravicini miraculously survived, but his twin sister did not. Technically, he died three times in the hospital and his eyesight was destroyed by an oxygen overdose. He has been left completely blind, partly autistic, can't tell left from right and cannot count to ten, but despite his disabilities he has an incredibly acute sense of hearing, and is a musical genius.
"Derek has the I.Q. of a 4 year old. His family had little hope that Derek would ever be able to communicate meaningfully, until at the age of two something extraordinary happened! At home with his mother, Mary Ann Hanbury, Derek sat at the piano playing a tune. Soon after this Derek was taken to a school for the blind.
"At the school there was a piano lesson going on, Derek broke free from his mother and ran straight towards the piano, as if he could see, and pushed the little girl, who was having the piano lesson, out of the way and started to play." (60 Minutes Transcript)
60 Minutes: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6734911n
