CANARSIE — Six-year-old Noah Jacob is a child model whose image can be seen in ads for the department store Target. His nickname is “Super Noah,” a nod to his status as a supermodel.
He also has his own Instagram page — @supernoahjacob — where he can be found with a smile. However, behind the bright smile and playful eyes, Noah faces a problem too big for a young boy to handle.
He has Down Syndrome, a condition often accompanied by other health issues — in Noah’s case, poor eyesight is one of them. His mother, Yami Johnson, said Noah has suffered from several problems with his eyes over the course of his young life, including blurry vision, astigmatism and a lazy eye.
His progressive vision loss means that he has to visit the eye doctor every three months, while most people go once a year. Noah has worn glasses since he was three months old, and because of his eye problems, he gets a new prescription after every doctor visit.
And if shepherding her photogenic son back and forth to the eye doctor isn’t stressful enough, Johnson said she often deals with pushback from their health insurance carrier.
Noah is covered by Medicaid Fidelis with a policy that covers new eyeglass prescriptions once every two years. However, due to his condition, Noah can go through as many as eight during that same amount of time.
Fidelis did not respond to The Tablet’s request for comment.
“They told me they would pay for new glasses more frequently only if there is a drastic change in vision [but] with Noah, the changes are more subtle,” Johnson explained. “His prescription is adjusted ever so slightly each time we go to get him checked.”
As a result, Johnson has to cover the costs to ensure Noah has the vision support he needs. Johnson said she pays
$300 every three months for new eyeglasses for Noah and sometimes travels thousands of miles to Panama, where she has relatives, to find cheaper eyewear.
“Lenses and frames are a lot cheaper down there, so I have gone that route,” Johnson said, adding that “when you have a special needs child, you move heaven and earth for them.”
Noah is the youngest of Johnson’s four sons. She said the challenges with Noah’s vision costs force her to make tough financial decisions like “what’s more important, putting food on the table or keeping the lights on, or paying almost $300 for a pair of glasses?”
Johnson, who is a licensed esthetician, said she relies on her Catholic faith to persevere through the challenges. “My faith has deepened since I’ve had Noah. I feel like God is always right there beside me,” said Johnson, who attends Mass at Holy Cross Church in Flatbush.
Her deep faith led her to resist calls by her doctors to terminate her pregnancy when tests revealed Noah had Down Syndrome. Instead, she chose life for her son. Still, she acknowledged there have been struggles beyond his eyewear costs. Noah has undergone two open heart surgeries and suffers from other health issues, as well.
But Noah’s bubbly personality and big smile resulted in his being tapped for advertising campaigns promoting inclusivity for special needs kids. His face has been featured in ads for Target, and he has walked down the runway during New York Fashion Week.
“I just felt that God wanted me to have Noah, and I’ve never regretted it, not for a moment,” Johnson said of her decision to carry Noah to birth. “Noah is a gift.”
