Ride For Life

BY ROLF BOONE
THE OLYMPIAN

OLYMPIA, WA — Traveling 40 feet doesn't mean much to most of us, but to Ray Jeffries, 55, it means the world.

Jeffries suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, a neuromuscular disorder commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease. The disease affects his legs and arms and requires that he use a wheelchair for mobility.

The only problem is that Jeffries always needs assistance when he wants to leave his mobile home at the Rainier Vista Mobile Home Park in Olympia.

But that changed Friday when about a dozen members of the Olympia Master Builders, a trade association representing the construction industry, showed up to donate time, labor and materials to build a 40-foot wheelchair ramp for Jeffries.

Asked what the new ramp meant to him, he replied with a single word: “Freedom.”

Jeffries was misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1998, but not until 2004 did he learn that his gradual disability was actually ALS.

As his condition worsened, he and his wife were forced to sell their multi-level home in Tacoma and downsize to a mobile home.

Before the onset of his disease, Jeffries worked as a deputy for the Benton County Sheriff's department in Eastern Washington, and later as a maker of jewelry, selling his products in various retail shops in Western Washington.

Friday's event also could become a regular part of the master builder's efforts to “revitalize our public service commitment,” according to Daimon Doyle of Doyle Custom Homes of Olympia.

Doyle led the project and was joined by other builders who completed the ramp Friday after starting at 8 a.m.

“Hammer was in hand and in motion,” said Jeffries, who watched the work from his porch, along with his wife, P.J., and his 8-year-old Shitzu, Gizmo, who slept in his lap.

Also on hand was Sonja Miller, South Sound patient coordinator for the Evergreen chapter of the ALS Association, and Tom Krugman, executive officer of the Olympia Master Builders.

Miller had pushed for Friday's event, first contacting the Building Industry Association of Washington, which then passed on her request to the Olympia Master Builders.

Miller said Friday's ramp-building project mirrors an annual event in Seattle, where the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties hold a one-day “rampathon” to build wheelchair ramps at multiple sites.

“It fulfills part of the belief that when you live and work in the community, you give back to the community,” said Krugman. He said he hopes Olympia Master Builders can turn ramp building for wheelchair-bound people into an annual campaign.

“It's the thing to do,” Krugman said. “You don't ask questions, you just do it. He (Jeffries) can now do the things we take for granted.”