Through Our Eyes: When You Can’t Drive Home

“Embrace your vision loss because you can learn to live with anything … you have to try.” – Marco Blake

“Embrace your vision loss, because you can learn to live with anything… but you have to try.”

Like so many others, Marco Blake started driving when he was 16. He would go on to drive several vehicles, from family cars, to a police cruiser, and even a school bus.

But one day, many years ago, he drove himself to Alphapointe’s Low Vision Clinic. But he wasn’t able to drive himself home.

The First Signs

Marco was born in California but spent his high school years in Overland Park, Kansas, where he would eventually meet his future wife. They’ve now been together for 30 years and have two grown children.

But it was long before now that the signs were there. While playing softball game, Marco was unaware that one of his fellow players was throwing a ball his direction. The player finally had to tell Marco he was doing so, because Marco didn’t see it. He didn’t think anything of it at the time.

On The Road

Marco’s career had him spending the majority of his time on the road. He worked for the Cass County Sheriff’s department and serve his community as a police officer for six years.

“After a while I started to notice that I was struggling with some of the visual aspects of my job,” explains Marco. “I couldn’t catch a license plate anymore, or track a car as it was going by. When I struggled to keep a detainee in my peripheral vision, I knew it was time to quit.”

Marco would make the switch from being a crime stopper to kids, becoming a school bus driver. It was a short lived stop. Although he passed the licensing requirements, his vision kept deteriorating and he had two minor accidents. No one was injured in either one but Marco knew it was time to see an eye doctor.

The Low Vision Clinic at Alphapointe

Marco was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa, a condition he also shared with his mother and two siblings. He was referred to Alphapointe’s Low Vision Clinic by his regular eye doctor. After being examined at our clinic, he was told that it wasn’t safe to drive home.

“I was absolutely devastated,” he admits. “It was one of the hardest times I ever went through.”

“I was absolutely devastated,” he admits. “It was one of the hardest times I ever went through.”

Not long after, Marco would start receiving training in orientation and mobility as well as assistive technology from the rehab team at Alphapointe.

Five Years Later

These days, Marco is part of our sewing department, crafting pants for the U.S. military. It’s one of several roles he’s taken on during his five years at Alphapointe, and each one has shown a different side of his determination.

To me, he embodies resilience and optimism. His story is a reminder that vision loss doesn’t look the same for everyone. Some of us, like me, are born with it. Others, like Marco, experience it later in life. Sometimes suddenly, sometimes slowly over many years.

No matter how it arrives, vision loss is never an easy path. But it is a path no one has to walk alone. As one of our clients recently shared, “It’s just a new beginning.” And Marco shows us every day how true that can be.