Yup.

Anne Sullivan, Hellen Keller's teacher, was sent to a school for the blind/deaf. Anne had an eye condition that worsened as she scratched/rubbed her eyes. It could have been treated early and saved her vision but no one really knew what was wrong with her. Eventually, she did have her vision attended to and they were able to restore some of it.

In the meantime, Anne attended the school and watched others being taught to cope with their blindness and/or deafness. One teacher in particular was attending to a deaf & blind patient. She looked on as the teacher began to slowly make breakthroughs with the older deaf/blind person. That person had used some of the same methods that Anne would later use with Helen Keller. Eventually, the Dr died though. Once that happened, the deaf/blind patient ended up becoming a recluse and never truly opened up to anyone else.

So Anne Sullivan essentially was inspired by a previous case. She became famous because she used similar methods with a much younger person. That person was also well off financially, so that probably has something to do with her becoming much more well known.

Edit: I was wrong about the person I spoke of. Laura Bridman actually was educated. She was probably the first deaf/blind person to be educated and her disabilities were also from Scarlet Fever. Anne Sullivan did meet her at the school for the blind and the Keller family saught her out because Laura Bridman was famous. Charles Dickens wrote about her and Anne Sullivan had met her so they asked her to aide their daughter.