Cambridge Bay (July 28/03) - Blind since birth, brothers Anthony Otokiak, 25, and Ashlee, 21, are making an impact in their home town of Cambridge Bay.

Anthony is thrilled about his new job at the local radio station, 97.7 CFBI.

And Ashlee is making braille signs for all the displays and wall hangings at the Kitikmeot Heritage Centre.

"It's quite awesome," said Emily Angulalik at the centre. "They are part of our life."

Anthony thinks his brother will like his new job at the Heritage Centre and joked that "I could only work one job at a time."

Eva Otokiak is bursting with pride looking at her two sons.

Anthony was born prematurely and weighed just a pound.

Doctors in Edmonton told her there was "no chance" he would survive. But she never gave up hope.

"It's a miracle with Anthony," she said from her home in Cambridge Bay.

"In my mind I thought, 'No, I'm going to pray, he'll make it.' And eventually he did."

Ashlee, born four years later, weighed two and a half pounds. Like his older brother, he never had eyesight.

"Today they keep me busy," Eva said.

"I call Anthony my pound of butter, and Ashlee my two and a half pounds of sugar."

The brothers have achieved more than their mother ever could have prayed for.

Anthony and Ashlee have attended music festivals in the Kitikmeot region, and can play "anything they hear on the radio," on the organ, guitar and flute, Eva said.

Spinning tunes at the radio station keeps Anthony hopping from 11 a.m to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday.

Angulalik gushed that Ashlee's braille signs will give new life to the pictures, posters, and artifacts in the heritage centre.

"Once they have these descriptions of what's inside in braille," she said, "they'll have that feeling 'Ok, I know what's in there.' We're quite happy."