On any given day, you can find Ethan Nichols on a basketball court rebounding for his older sister Abby.
Ethan has always been active, spending most of his life on a football field, at shooting ranges, and in Idaho's wilderness. He simply takes it all in.
When you look at Ethan, he appears to be your ordinary 15-year-old.
Well imagine this. You're 15 years old. You're getting ready for a new school year, maybe you're even looking forward to trying out for a sports team.
Now imagine that you find out at a routine eye appointment that you are slowly going blind because of a rare genetic disorder called Retinitis Pigmentosa.
You probably have a lot of questions, concerns about a life without sight, and that defiant voice saying "We have to find the cure."
"I knew what it was as soon as they said something about it because my grandfather also had it and I have a first cousin that also has it," said Laura Nichols, Ethan's mom.
"It slowly kills all my cells in my eyes so I can't see," said Ethan.
Those fishing trips and the routes he ran on the football field are like snapshots of his life that he's filing in his memory. He's preparing for when his memory of these things is all he has.
"We were at a regular eye appointment and I failed my peripheral vision test," Ethan said.
Doctors say Ethan only sees 10 to 15 degrees out of each eye. A normal eye sees 110 degrees.
"It doesn't have a cure unless you have a certain mutation which I don't," said Ethan.
After the diagnosis there was shock, then tears.
"We were sad and went through kind of a mourning process and a grieving process but we just came to the point where we realized that we have our son and he has a really bright future," said Laura.
Laura has seen this disorder firsthand and says that has given her some comfort moving forward.
"Knowing that my grandfather lived a very full life, a long life helped us to realize that he has the same ability to do that," Laura said.
Before Ethan slips into a world of darkness, there's some things he has to see.
"I've always loved history since I was young and World War II is just super interesting," said Ethan.
He wants to go on a trip to Europe to see for himself what's written on the pages of his history books before it's too late.
If you think Ethan will be slowing down anytime soon, think again. His diagnosis has fueled his need to give back to other teens who are going through a similar situation. He wants to start a non-profit organization that helps teens who are losing their sight take one last trip to see something they've always wanted to see.
In the meantime, Ethan says he's staying positive.
"Just live life normally until I can't," said Ethan. "My life is not over."