Driven to help

chest down, so I became paralyzed from the chest down,” explained Myers, who had been diagnosed with MS in 2007.

According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, MS “involves an immune-mediated process in which an abnormal response of the body’s immune system is directed against the central nervous system (CNS). The CNS is made up of the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves.”

“I controlled my MS pretty well with medication. I only had one semi-serious episode with it, but from 2007 to 2016 I went pretty unscathed. This disease affects a lot of different people in different ways. I had very mild symptoms that didn’t really affect my life or my work. With MS you can get lesions in the myelin on your nerves, usually in the brain. This particular one is in my spine and it’s high enough that it affected me from the chest down. There really isn’t a cure for MS,” he added. “They start out by shooting you full of steroids for a few days and see if that helps.”

A blood-filtering process called Plasmapheresis didn’t help much, Myers said.

“They focused on what medication I needed to be on so that my MS didn’t get any worse, and then I had to spend the rest of the time learning how to live life in a wheelchair,” noted Myers, who had spent several months in the hospital, and later, a nursing home and rehab.

“There is a chance that I will regain some of the function in my lower half. What it’s going to take is time and rehab, and there’s no guarantee of anything.”

While he moved out of his Philadelphia apartment into his brother’s home in West Norriton, he was determined through his ordeal to keep working at his job as a communications specialist for Service Employees International Union.

“My job has been very great about being accommodating for my medical leave so I feel very blessed for that and very thankful,” said Myers, a former reporter for The Times Herald and Norristown Patch editor.

Since commuting to the office was no longer possible —”Our office is probably the least accessible office in the world” —he works mostly from home in a power wheelchair, with some much needed professional assistance to start and end his day.

“My brother is a single father of three children and can’t really be my caretaker,” Myers said. “Insurance doesn’t cover having health care aides come in in the morning and help you get dressed and everything, which costs a surprising amount of money. I definitely need those aides for my morn

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PHOTOS BY GENE WALSH - MEDIANEWS GROUP The “Giving James a Ride” fundraiser will help offset the costs incurred to purchase the modified van which allows James Myers to travel for work. February 6, 2019.

Powering up a ramp into a modified Dodge van that allows him to gain access to the vehicle unassisted February 6, 2019.

Once inside and secured in his van, James Myers can get work done while on the road February 6, 2019.