Sensational Seniors: Trena King Loses Sight, Rediscovers Purpose

Gripped by depression and anxiety after diabetes took her vision, Trena King spent two years holed up in her bedroom.

King only came out to eat, shower, and spend a little time with her closest family members. She’d retreat to her private space when anyone outside that circle came to the house.

The Sacramento native started experiencing issues with her vision in 2009 while working as a manager at a local Walmart. She tried store-bought reading glasses, but those provided only temporary relief. Matters worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic to the point of full retinal detachment.

“I had like five surgeries,” says King, now 60. “Each and every time the doctors will cut you open and scar tissue forms. When scar tissue forms in that little bitty eye, there’s not really much they can do, but I wanted them to save my eyes.”

When her doctor wouldn’t clear her to return to work, she wondered how she’d make it financially.

“I’ve always worked,” she says. “I went through a depression for a while. It got to the point where my kids were concerned. They were trying to see if they could bring therapists to my home, just to get me out of the room and stuff.”

King refused to take medication for her mental health issues. She gave up on a lot of things she normally did, things that no longer brought her joy and comfort. Isolation was a lonely place and she realized it was time to get her life back together. 

“I woke up one morning and I said, ‘I’ve got to go back to church because this is what God set for me, so let me get it together and adjust.’ And that’s what I did. I just started adjusting, gradually. I told myself, ‘Get out and get away from your desk, get off your bed, get up and do what you do best, and be yourself.’ That’s what I started doing.”

At the suggestion of her sister and her doctor, she reached out to the Society for the Blind to learn how to deal with her new reality. The anxiety was, and is, ever-present, but things started looking up for King.

At the midtown agency, she relearned everyday tasks and was empowered to navigate unfamiliar territory. There, she found support and independence.

“I try to do everything on my own because everybody’s not going to be here all the time,” King says. “I’m going to have to do that eventually.”

Lean On Me

The Society for the Blind helped King put the feelings of doom and gloom behind her. 

“I don’t feel lost anymore,” she says.

She spends a lot of time with the friends she made there, became a mentor, and is active in their Senior IMPACT Project and Black Americans Senior Support group (BASS) that grew out of the pandemic and the global social unrest that resulted from the killing of George Floyd. Staff are proud of King’s evolution and consider her an “asset.”

“She was very skeptical when she first came to the Society for the Blind,” rehabilitation instructor Debra Pendleton says. King acts as Pendleton’s secretary and helps contact new clients, explaining their services and activities. She helps others to use their iPhones and teaches knife safety classes. She is also a leader within BASS.

“She assists with organizing outings within the group, even offering rides with her family members,” Pendelton says. “If clients have other issues, beyond what the Society provides, she researches the problem and contacts me for more information if needed. Due to her efficiency, other staff members have contacted her for assistance.”

King is tickled that staffers fight over her. “They’re trying to pull me from left to right, but [Pendleton] will be like, ‘Nah, she’s mine.’”

A Whole New World

While she no longer laments her vision loss, King does have regrets. She thought she might be pursuing work as a social worker at this stage in her life. She shares the same compassion for people as both her sister and daughter who went into the field. She’s also experiencing family moments differently.

“I miss seeing the birth of my nieces and the memories when they’re born,” King says. “Now everybody describes them to me and stuff. I miss that because all the kids still love me. They all gravitate to me.

“Right now I have an eight-month-old niece. She doesn’t know I’m blind. She doesn’t have a clue, but when I come in, or if she comes over, she just lights up when she sees me, they say. Her arms are out and I’ve just got to hold her.”

While she saw her daughter graduate from high school and had enough vision to “kind of” see her granddaughter’s commencement, her vision was completely gone by the time her godson and grandson walked across the stage earlier this year.

“I couldn’t see those two young men do what I waited and yearned for them to do. It was emotional, but I attended both events. Just being there to support is better than anything, of course.”

Other family members described the ceremonies to her. “I cried a little, but I wasn’t depressed. It was just a good feeling,” King says.

While King has been conquering challenges and barriers, she admits she isn’t quite over her fear of flying. “I can’t do that one yet. I ain’t there.”

She’s taking a baby-step approach.

“I got on the train a couple months ago,” she says. “For the first time ever we rode to the Bay Area and did some stuff. So that was a bucket-list thing. I did that. I’m praying on the plane. If I get on a plane, I think that I probably would have completed my mission on what I really wanted to try to do as a blind person.”

Her hesitancy kept her from a friend’s trip to Florida recently, but she hopes to join them to next year’s destination.

“I want to go and have fun,” she says.

The group gets together for potlucks and a book club, attends concerts together, and has regular bowling outings.

“We just do a lot of stuff,” King says. “I love [Society for the Blind]. They encourage us. I don’t know what I’d do without them.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: This Sensational Seniors article is a part of OBSERVER Senior Staff Writer Genoa Barrow’s special series, “Senior Moments: Aging While Black.” The series is being supported by the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism and is part of “Healing California,” a 2024 reporting Ethnic Media Collaborative venture with print, online, and broadcast outlets across California.