Jeff Whiteman and his family take life one day at a time.

The family has been struggling to get by after Jeff Whiteman was
diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, an autoimmune disease, three
years ago. The disease gradually causes his muscles to lose their
strength and function. The weakness usually occurs after the muscle
group is used and decreases after the muscle groups rests.

“It’s been real rough,” Whiteman said. “There is lots of stuff I
can’t do but we have been coping with it.”

Whiteman can walk around his house for the most part but can’t
walk long distances. He often needs to use a walker or a cane to
get around. He has an electric wheelchair that he uses to go
downtown. He sometimes has spells where he can’t dress or feed
himself, his wife Linda said.

But since the Whitemans don’t have a ramp leading into their
home, he has to leave the wheelchair outside when he returns
home.

The Whitemans have been trying to get a ramp for their home
since Jeff Whiteman’s diagnosis but haven’t had much success so
far. They have had some offers to build the ramp but none have come
through. The ramp would cost about ,1,000, Linda Whiteman said.

“We don’t have that,” she said.

So the wheelchair continues to sit outside under a tarp when it
isn’t used.

The family would like to get a ramp built onto their back porch,
but the porch is caving in and would need fixing up. The back door
can’t shut fully, Whiteman said. The family would also like to get
a small storage shed to store the electric wheelchair.

The family is barely scraping by on ,600 a month, much less than
their monthly expenses add up to. Jeff Whiteman began showing
symptoms of myasthenia gravis in August 2004 and tried to work
through it. The symptoms grew worse and he couldn’t hold his head
up or drive himself home from Bradford Forest Products, where he
worked as a laborer.

He passed out at work at the end of that month and ended up in
the hospital. Doctors told him he had just pulled a muscle but he
was sent to a neurologist who ran tests for six months. With no
clear diagnosis, Whiteman traveled to a Buffalo, N.Y., hospital in
January 2006, where he was diagnosed.

Whiteman nearly died in the spring after his breathing muscles
failed, which is known as a myasthenic crisis. The doctors didn’t
think he would make it out of the hospital, Linda Whiteman said.
The medication has gotten him through it, Jeff Whiteman said.

Whiteman has been unable to work since his diagnosis.

“I miss talking with the people and running the machines,”
Whiteman said of his former job. “It’s nerve-wracking (being
home).”

The family has been waiting to collect disability compensation
and Whiteman’s claim was finally approved last Friday. It may be
another two to three months before he can collect any payments as
they wait on signed papers from the judge who presided over the
claim.

Linda Whiteman said she has been trying to work but has
Spondylolisthesis, a spinal condition categorized by slippage of
the vertebrae. Three bones have separated from her spine and some
discs are disintegrating in her back. She was working 60 hours a
week and was able to pay the bills with the money she earned. But a
shoulder surgery in April cut back the amount of hours she could
work.

She said she is working part time despite her doctor’s orders
not to work. Whiteman was without insurance until about a year ago.
The insurance doesn’t cover prescriptions so she has wracked up a
bill with her pharmacist and takes her pain medication sparingly,
she said.

Whiteman needs surgery but her doctors want to see what other
conditions she may have, as some of her extremities go numb from
time to time, she said.

Family members have been helping out where they can and the
Whiteman’s 18-year-old daughter, Amanda, has been helping out
around the house.

“She does most of the housework, shopping, and pays the bills
because I can’t stand on my feet for a long period of time,” Linda
Whiteman said. “She does everything without complaint.”

There are good days and there are bad days, Jeff Whiteman
said.

“I just pray to God every day to give me strength,” he said.