Doing It Blind: Life Skills

From Birthday Dream To Blindness: A Road Rewritten

• David Gallegos • Season 1 • Episode 2

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The plan was simple: clock in early, clock out with a motorcycle, and finally honor a kid’s promise to himself. What I met on that Texas back road wasn’t a new bike—it was a wall of “fog” so thick I couldn’t see the hood. Minutes later, the sky cleared and my brother swore there’d been no fog at all. That was the moment I understood: I wasn’t driving through weather. I was driving through vision loss.

From there the story widens. I share the months of squiggling shadows and lava-lamp blurs I kept dismissing, the head tilts to catch taillights at night, and the rationalizations that perfectionism feeds: wait for the right time, it’ll sort itself out. When the crash forced the truth, we faced it as a family. My wife’s relief that I was alive collided with the reality that the motorcycle dream had to end. A doctor’s call kept me from returning to a job I loved in mental health—locked doors and high-risk halls aren’t forgiving when your sight is failing—and with it went the identity of “the guy who always shows up.”

What followed wasn’t just medical appointments; it was a deep rebuild. I talk candidly about living with depression since childhood, the fear of sliding back, and the unexpected way faith and community pulled me forward instead. We map the difference between sadness and depression, the shame of risks I didn’t recognize soon enough, and the practical changes that made daily life safer and steadier. Most of all, we look at how purpose survives upheaval: helping people didn’t leave when the keys did. It changed forms—into stories, into presence, into stubborn hope when the room goes dim.

If you’re facing your own version of “fog,” whether that’s sight loss, grief, or a career door closing, this conversation holds space for pain and offers tools for resilience. Press play to learn how walls can become training weights, how identity can be rebuilt without perfect timing, and why choosing purpose on hard days is a skill worth practicing. If this resonates, subscribe, share it with someone who needs it, and leave a review to help others find the show. What’s the moment that remade you?

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SPEAKER_00:

I never went to school or work on my birthday. The only reason I actually went to work was because that day I was going to fulfill a dream I had had my entire life. So I'm up at four o'clock in the morning, getting dressed, ready to go to work. Yes, I had to be at work that early. I was working at the North Texas State Hospital at the time, and the year was 2006. This was also my birthday. So I was feeling great. I was feeling amazing that day. Actually, at the hospital, they had been calling me uh beautiful day for quite a while. Because that was just kind of, I guess, the mindset I came in with in the morning. Um, anyway, this doesn't really matter it, you know, in particular to this. That has nothing to do with the story. I just thought it was fun. But anyway, so I'm driving to work that morning at like, like I said, five o'clock, five thirty in the morning. I'm driving down the road. Um, and the only reason I was going to work that day is because I was gonna pick up a motorcycle. Uh, I had been waiting my whole life to have a motorcycle. Uh, fun fact, my dad pulled up. I was probably about six years old. He pulled up on a motorcycle, and I about lost my mind that day. And um, my oldest brother got to ride on the motorcycle. Uh, my other brother got to ride, and when it came time for me. Well, I was pretty small, and so I guess somebody felt like it was gonna be too dangerous. Maybe my mom, maybe my dad. Actually, I'm pretty sure it was my mom. Either way, I didn't get to ride the motorcycle that day, but from that day, I began this whole love affair with motorcycles. Um watch shows and movies and and all kinds of stuff, TV shows. Motorcycles was just a big deal in my life. Now, um, I remember there was a movie that came out. Uh that there was a motorcycle guy. It was actually the movie Greece 2. Um, I remember watching it uh with my parents or my dad or whatever, and and the guy had a motorcycle, and just I'm telling you, my whole life was all about getting a motorcycle. For one reason or another, I never got one. Into my adult life and all this different stuff, high school, I was never able to get one. Sometimes finances, uh gosh, there were so many different reasons. You know, even when I had my daughter, it was just not a genius idea for me to get a motorcycle because there's no way to put a car seat on it. But this particular point in time, it was the right time, it was the perfect time. And so if you don't know, um, well, I'm I'm a recovering perfectionist. That doesn't mean I do everything perfectly, but one of the ways that that manifested in my life is that I put things off until the perfect time, whether it was gonna be asking somebody on a date or whether it was whatever it might be. I wanted to wait for just the right time. People would ask me, What's your favorite movie? And I'd have to stop and think for like an hour. And well, if it's this genre, it's it's this movie. If it's this genre, it's this movie. And it just I couldn't pin anything down. I just wanted everything to be just right and just particular. And that's probably really why I wound up procrastinating and putting that on for so long. I was waiting for the right time, the perfect time. But here we are, this day. I'd already talked to a friend of mine who was selling a motorcycle, and it was just my size because I'm kind of a small dude. And so um, it was something great, something to learn on, something to get ready on, and and it was I was so super excited. And so I'm driving to work that morning, you know, getting ready, knowing that today is the day I'm gonna go pick up my motorcycle. We had made all the arrangements already, and it was gonna be great. It was gonna be amazing. Now I'm driving to work and it's it's dark outside still because it was super early in the morning, like I said. And I'm driving down this kind of Texas back road. It was paved, but it was still a back road, and this fog rolled in out of nowhere. Um, and I couldn't, I it was so thick, I couldn't even see the hood of my car. And it was just wild. And I I I guess I hit I hit a bump, uh, a dip or something, and and I kind of lost the wheel a little bit and um kind of you know shook around or whatever. I wound up, you know, kind of going into the ditch a little bit. I scraped my car all up on a barbed wire fence. Um, yeah, it was kind of rough. I actually broke the CV joint, you know, on that car. It was a little Plymouth Sundance, and um, it was wild. It was it was a wild ride. And so I stood sat there for a minute and and it was just couldn't believe this just happened. I'm on my way to work, you know, or whatever. And um, I get there, and all of a sudden the fog lifts. And yeah, I'm like, you know, the sun's starting to come out, you know, and it's not foggy anymore. And here I am, I can't drive my car any further. You know, I get to um, you know, I couldn't just leave it on the side of the road. I I found this little little spot to go park my car, and I called my brother to come pick me up, and and he was able to come by and pick me up. And uh as soon as he picked up, he's like, What happened to you, man? I was like, dude, I don't even know. I guess I hit a bump or something, you know, or whatever. But it was right when this real thick fog rolled in. And uh he kind of looked at me and was like, um, there was no fog this morning, bro. And of course, I I knew for sure there was. I mean, literally, I just had this experience. Well, side note, we worked at the same, we worked at the same place at that time, and so we happened to be on parallel roads. So he was at the same time driving in the same area I was in, and so we actually knew there was no fog, and I was just lost. I I didn't know what are you talking about? What do you mean? And all of a sudden, just like the snap of a finger, um I recognized what had happened. So I'm blind. Those of you that don't know, um, I'm blind, so I have a little bit of light perception in in my right eye, and so I can see light sources, I can see shadows that pass by. Uh, but that's all I've got in the right eye, and the left eye is completely out. Um, it's kind of wild if I if I were to cover my right eye. Um, it's just pretty dark, which kind of comes in handy when you're trying to sleep in uh and the sun is just beaming through your window, you can kind of cover that right eye, and um and and you don't see any lights. So um it's a weird way to say that's one way to look on the bright side. Yeah. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I cracked my. I'm so sorry. I I cracked myself up on that one. Um, and it was probably not funny to you, but yeah, I thought it was hilarious. Anyway, but yeah, so so that's where I'm at right now. I'm blind. I've been uh I've been blind for a pretty long time. Uh it all started in 2006. I I was telling that story because that was kind of the beginning of the end for me, as far as you know, the lights going out, losing my vision, losing my sight, whatever you want to call it. Um, that was the beginning of the end right there. Before that, that was in December. Earlier that year, I was starting to have these issues. I was starting to have these problems where um I would have this squiggly line in my line of sight in my view. And it was so weird. I don't know if you've ever seen like the uh old school like lava lamps, you know, it's those things. It's just it's this big glob inside of some water, right? And and the oil and the water, they they pretty much don't separate, you know, they're just kind of there to go. They're separate, completely separate. I'm sorry, they're completely separate, they're just there, two completely different substances in this thing. And um, that's basically what had in my eyeball, you know. And come to find out, it was the blood vessels in my eyeball were super fragile and they were bursting. And so those squiggly lines that I was seeing in my eyeball, in my line of sight, if I move my eyes left to right, the squiggly line would actually move, which is kind of wild. Um, and being that I I'm I'm you know, I was a little dumb at the time, I or just bored. I don't know. Sometimes I would just kind of mess with it and watch this watch it just squiggle around, just move around it in my eyeball, which was weird. But because it would dissipate after that, it was no big deal. I really didn't think much of it. And like I said, that was earlier in the year that that happened. Um, so I kind of knew there was some stuff going on already. Um even by the time I was, gosh, maybe October, November, um, I was starting to have, you know, a few more issues as far as when I was driving. Sometimes I couldn't see long distances. Uh, sometimes that that blood, that that blood trickle that was in my eye, it would get right in my field of vision and it would block certain things. Like at night, um, I might have to turn my head right or left a little bit just to see if there was taillights in front of me. Um, it got really weird. It got really wild, really crazy. Um, and when I look back on it, there's actually a video that I'll probably share later, which is me and my daughter talking about kind of how that affected her or what she saw or thought or realized during that time. Um, because she would be in the car with me sometimes. Uh, I'd go pick her up from school. And so I'm really, really ashamed to even say that, you know, to you and be on camera and and just admit that out loud that I would. I I would actually drive with my daughter, um, just not realizing how severe uh things were, just not realizing, you know, things would clear up after a second. Sometimes I could just, you know, shake my head or or rub my eyes, and it would kind of clear up. So I really didn't think too much of it. But um, yeah, that's really that's really how everything started was was right there, you know, and so it all culminated, like I said, in this one particular day where I wrecked my car and realized that the fog that rolled in was not fog at all. You know, it was basically like looking through wax paper. That's the best way I can describe uh what was going on in my head at the time, my field of vision, that's what it was. It was like looking through wax paper. If you've never done it, I go grab some wax paper and you can see when I was seeing at that point in time. Um, completely crazy. I didn't know what to expect. And um my wife knew, obviously, because I was already married to Brenda, she knew that I was gonna pick up that motorcycle. She wasn't 100% crazy about the idea of me getting a motorcycle. Um, she felt like it was pretty dangerous. Um, like I said, I was kind of already having some some issues with my sight with that little blood thing that I was telling you about. Um, but I was just kept pushing it off. No, it'll be okay. It'll be okay, I'll be fine. Um, but this particular day, whenever my brother brought me home, um I looked at her and and she was she was she's not on video today. Uh she's not on the podcast today. I thought it might be a little hard, and I think this is a little harder for me than I thought it would be. Um but she took it really hard. It freaked her out and scared her because I think all my brother called and told her was uh, you know, hey, David had a wreck. And so she didn't know how I was, if I was okay, if if if I was even alive at that point. Um so when I got home, there were tears and and and there was hugs and embrace and all those things. And and I think we both realized at the same moment that I was never gonna get a motorcycle. She was so glad um that I hadn't gotten it already. I was actually supposed to pick it up maybe a month, three weeks before, but I decided that I was gonna wait for my birthday to do it. You know, I wanted to wait for the perfect time, right? I mean, that's what I mentioned. I wanted to wait for the perfect time, the perfect moment. This is gonna be my birthday present to me. And um it didn't turn out the way I expected it to. It didn't turn out the way that I wanted it to. And that was a really, really horrific, horrifying day to realize that not only was my dream being shattered of getting a motorcycle, but I didn't know if I was gonna be able to drive again. Because when I did start driving, like I said at that time, that's what happened. And I already knew there were some issues going on. I mentioned that, but I really felt like this was it, this was the end. I really felt like that was the beginning of the end. It was all over. But if you've seen any of my other content, whether it's on social media or whether it's on one of these episodes or a bonus episode, then you know life didn't stop right there. There's so much more I'd love to tell you. But I want to end with this. I was completely lost for about six months. I didn't know who I was because everything I knew about me before that day was that I was the guy that everybody could count on. Maybe you can identify with that. I I was the guy that everybody called on when they needed a hand and they needed help. I was just that was just what I wanted to do. I wanted to help people. I used to drive people around in and out of town. I would help people move if they were moving, apartments, houses, whatever. I mean, I was just that guy. I was that guy. And I didn't know who I was if I couldn't be that guy, if I wasn't that guy anymore. My entire career was centered around the mental health field. My doctor wouldn't allow me to go back to my job. He said it was too dangerous, um, which is valid. I'm not gonna say that it's not. That's valid. The place that I worked at the time, there were locked doors, it was it was a facility. You know, like I said, there there are things, and I can't get into any specifics of any of those things, but he was right. The doctor was absolutely right to not allow me to go back. But with all of my being, I wanted to. I told him, You don't understand this is who I am, this is what I do. It's also a financial decision. Hello, I I'm I'm I'm the man of my house, I'm a man regardless. I I have to work, I like to work, I love to work. I bring it had a job at the time, but I didn't want to put the entire burden of our whole family just on her. So there were a lot of things I went through through those next few months. Not knowing who I was, not knowing what was gonna happen. I started to think about all the things I had lost and all the things I was losing in that moment and during that time. Like I said, this is a harder story to tell than I thought it would be. Because it's been so long. But the fact is, I had people in my life, I had a community, I had relationship, I had people that had my back, I had people that that encouraged me and inspired me. I had a relationship with God, I had Jesus on my side, knowing and understanding that no matter what, he never left me before.

SPEAKER_01:

And he wasn't gonna start now. I dealt with depression most of my life. I had actually been in a facility myself.

SPEAKER_00:

I had been hospitalized by the time I was twelve years old because of my depression. My depression manifested as rage.

SPEAKER_01:

There was so many things there. What was wild is that right as I went blind, as I was losing my sight, God helped me through the depression and out of the depression.

SPEAKER_00:

Depression is not something that I deal with anymore. Thank God. It was a long road, it was a hard road, but I literally have not had a depressive thought in twenty years. Which is unimaginable. Have I been sad? Yes, absolutely. I I I lost I lost my mom and my dad and my sister. There's definitely been sadness. I've been sad about different things at different times in my life. But I've never I've never been in a depressed state where I didn't know what to do with myself, and I didn't know how to climb out of the sadness that I was feeling. I'm kind of talking about a lot here today, and I wish I was able to just kind of wrap it all up into a nice little bow and tell you what today's message is.

SPEAKER_01:

But all I can really say right now is that you don't have to feel lost if you're losing your sight.

SPEAKER_00:

You don't have to fall into depression if you're if you just lost a leg and you don't have to be distraught if you just lost the most important person to you in your life. We all suffer loss, and and I I'm no different, you're no different, we all have and or will suffer loss, but we can make it through, you can make it through that loss. I felt lost because I lost myself, I didn't know who I was. But in the middle of all those things, in the middle of everything else going on, I had the right people in my life, I had the right relationships. I've talked about what relationship before. I'll talk about it again because it's so vitally important. But I was able to find who I am, find the truth, find my true identity, my real identity, who I am. It turns out I'm still the guy that wants to help people. I'm still the guy that wants to be there for people. I'm still the guy. I'm still sorry, I keep making myself laugh. I'm still beautiful, Dave. Going all the way back to what they called me when I was working at the state hospital.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm still that guy. Life is a choice.

SPEAKER_00:

Choose to live a life of purpose and fulfillment. It doesn't come easy. It doesn't come easy ever. But I don't want this to be a down episode. I'm saying all this because I want you specifically to know some of what I deal with, some of what I've dealt with and what I've gone through from the very beginning of the whole sight loss journey. It was a really, really long journey. But if you refuse to give up, nothing can stop you. How the wall that's placed in front of you was not meant to stop you, but to help you build strength.