It was a bittersweet moment when Nathan Edge of the United Kingdom found out he and his partner of 4 1/2 years, Emma Fotheringham, were to be parents. While ecstatic about the news, Nathan is blind and will never be able to see the face of his child. He lost his sight 7 years ago and has adjusted well, but this was an experience that had him really missing his vision.

His blindness hit especially hard when it was time for Emma’s 12 week ultrasound, and he was the only one in the room who couldn’t see the tiny person everyone was gushing over.

“When we got home, we shared the scans with our family and everybody was getting excited about seeing the baby for the first time. Being blind rarely ever gets me down — I’ve come to terms with it very well — but suddenly it hit me, ‘I’ll never be able to see this scan,’” Edge, 26, told TODAY Parents.

That’s when a sweet friend stepped up in an incredibly thoughtful way. Emma Shares: “A lovely lady [Deb Fisher] who is a local puppy walker for guide dogs dropped me a message. She said she was so happy for us both but sad that Nathan was unable to see our baby grow on our scan photos.”

Deb had never undertaken a task such as the one she was about to suggest, but she wanted to embroider one of the scans for Nathan “to enable us to experience the joy of our baby boy growing together.”

 

How incredible is this 😍

Received this amazing surprise today… it’s an embroided tactile version of our 12 week baby scan, so for the first time as a blind dad to be, I’m able to build a picture of our baby scan through touch ❤️

Can’t describe how amazing this is 😍 pic.twitter.com/3Qm01MlzhS

— Nathan Edge (@NathanEdge94) December 10, 2020

After 40 hours over the course of 3 weeks, Deb had a finished product that would finally allow Nathan to “see” his unborn child through touch.

“I tried to imagine what he looked like using other people’s descriptions,” Edge said. “But now I’m able to build a proper picture of my baby. It’s just amazing. I could have gone my whole life never knowing what that scan looked like.”

About the thoughtful gift, Nathan went on to add: “I was quite emotional, it took me a few minutes to work it out. It is very exciting becoming a dad—a little bit scary—but I am definitely excited.”

The couple posted the sweet gift on Twitter and it immediately received a lot of positive feedback, including from others who are visually impaired and have said this story makes them more hopeful about the thought of having their own children one day.

“The scans are such an important part of the journey to becoming a parent,” Nathan says. “Everybody should be able to experience it.”