Richard McWilliams:
CLASS OF 1977
John Glenn High SchoolClass of 1977
Elwood, NY
Richard's Story
What have I been doing since 1977? A couple of marriages that didn't work out in the 80's produced a few children. I geuss around 1989, my left ankle developed a twitch. This would occur only when sleeping. I did some investigating and found it to be a symptom of Parkinson's Disease. For the following 10 years, I hid the disease from the whole world knowing that my life would dramatically change if ever officially diagnosed. I was working in the construction field hoping one day to become an implotionist.(blowing up structures with dynamite) I worked hard in demolition and studied structures and blueprints at night,knowing I, myself would implode one day.....the disease got harder to hide,(but in the 80's,there wasn't drugs that could control the tremors that are available today.)I couldn't join a union because a physical would reveal my secret! I geuss I was hoping for a miracle cure to occur so that I could enter implotion school. That didn't happen and in 1999, I finally collapsed due to the severe chemical imbalance in my body.I was right 10 years earlier because my life did ...Expand for more
change. I went from the top of the demolition field to jobless in one day! I couldn't collect unemployment, so I was forced into Social Security Disability. This caused a whole lot of stress which fed to the disease's intensity!The left side of my body stated tremoring totally out of control. (I thought my life was over.) I was seeing my neuroligist 3 times a week. Eventually after 2 years and 300+ plus visits, my tremors were corralled! During those 2 years , I slept very little and my vision failed to the point of blindness. An opthomoligist was notified by my neurologist. Over the course of the next 2 years,I was the lucky recipient of 2 cornea transplants!(Thank God for organ donors!)Even though there has been sadness, disappointment and physical pain over the past 19 years, I've learned alot about myself, my faith in God, and the world and if had the opportunity to live my life over, wouldn't change one thing! I'm now living in Pennsylvania . My days are spent painting pictures and toiling in my litle woodshop!
(Isn't that every little boy's dream?)-Rick McWilliams (Dec.2008)
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