Konna Seccull is a particularly gifted saxophonist.
The 13-year-old has thrown himself into his music, practising on his own after school as well as with his six-member band.
For Konna, other hobbies, such as sports that require hand-eye co-ordination, don’t come quite as easily.
The Derrimut teen was born with a genetic condition affecting just one in 20,000 people called oculocutaneous albinism.
It affects his eyesight by reducing the amount of pigmentation in his irises and the light sensitive tissue at the back of his eyes, not to mention the colour of his skin and hair, which he dyes every month.
Like most people with the condition, Konna is very fair.
But his mother, Cindy, said that with generous sunscreen applications, there’s little stopping her son from living an ordinary life.
“He has his moments, but not often – he’s very resilient and I think you have to be,” Cindy said. “He’s an incredibly talented saxophone player. He’ll have a go at anything, there’s nothing much he hasn’t tried – I’m so proud of him.”
This week Melbourne is hosting a national conference on albinism to coincide with the United Nations’ third World Albinism Awareness Day.
Young Konna said he hoped the annual awareness day would highlight the condition and help those affected by it.
“It gives them more of an understanding of how easy their life can be,” he said. “They’re more able to do things without lesser vision. I’m at the point where glasses wouldn’t help me.”
