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Other shots hit his thumb and shoulder. there were six pretty good size bullet holes. keith morrison: when he was well enough to talk to detectives, sutton told them what he could, the story of a man who barely witnessed the attack that killed his wife and almost killed him. he was a former college swimmer, so he was watching an olympic diving event in the master bedroom, he said. the next thing i know, somebody was standing there in a black hat or visor, black shirt, black pants, face shaded by the visor, and open fired. all i really remember was one bang. keith morrison: the bullets destroye...

Optic nerve repair. >> have you done any studies with severed optic nerves. >> reporter: he peppered them with questions like he was cross-examining witnesses. mike gilmore, president of the research clinic offered sutton a glimmer of hope. >> we will be able to regenerate an optic nerve not so much a question of can we, when can we? >> reporter: and it was a good news/bad news sort of day. >> i do not want to mislead you or provide false hopes. >> reporter: yes there might be a cure but perhaps not for five, ten years or more, quite possibly too late for john sutton. >> okay. >> how soon depe...

I don't even -- i can't even try to think what that would be like. >> yeah. >> heavy. >> memorizing things and going into court? >> yeah. >> he is a pretty determined guy. >> yes. he's great. >> but adapting, even successful adapting, using a talking typewriter, for example, wasn't enough for john sutton. as he waited for his son's long delayed trial, he pursued with something like an obsession, a quest to regain his eyesight. >> most people may have given up. can't do anything. you live with it. >> not even close. no, i won't take no for an answer. >> at some of the best hospitals in the coun...

Regenerated the optic nerve in mice. >> one step up. >> and so in march 2008, almost three years to the day after his son was arrested, sutton and his girlfriend, kathy, were on the cold rain swept streets of boston on his way to an appointment. >> so there's a chin rest in front of you. >> a doctor evaluated one of sutton's eye and even though the nerve was destroyed the eye could work. >> my son is in jail. >> they listened to the awful story of how he lost his eyesight. >> they explained working on optic nerve regeneration and john took in and for the first time since the shooting he found ...

And a little germ of hope lodged itself in his stubborn mind. >> and you were thinking -- >> i said, i am in the right spot. >> he talked to believing researchers working on optic nerve repair. >> have you donnie studies with severed optic nerves? >> he peppered them with questions like he was cross examining witnesses. mike gilmore, then the president of the hospital, offered sutton a glimmer at least of hope. >> we will be able to regenerate an optic nerve. it's not a question of can we, when can we. >> and it was a good news/bad news sort of day. >> i do not want to mislead you or provide f...