The other J. Robert Sheehan

Jack was named in part because we just liked the name Jack. After seeing the Incredibles I mentioned to Genevieve that Jack was a good name for a little kid. She was like, Oh my God! I always wanted that name! So with a first initial J, it was a cinch that Jack would be named after my Dad, "J. (for Jon) Robert Sheehan." Dad goes by "Bob" and always has, unlike Jack. But Jack would do very well to emulate him in just about every other way. Here's a local news story on my Dad. Be sure to read it all the way to the end to get the true flavor of the man.

(I used to have a link here to the online story at News 9. But as my father-in-law pointed out to me, the lead story on that page is now "Police questioning husband in early-morning murder," so here is the story about my Dad pasted below!)

Living with multiple sclerosis
By: Marcie Fraser

Bob Sheehan said, "You either have a tumor on your brain or you have multiple sclerosis, and here's a 30-year-old kid with a wife and two children, and what the hell is MS?"

Bob Sheehan was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 30 years ago.

Dr. Neil Lava said, "Multiple sclerosis is disease of the central nervous system where the immune system attacks the brain and spinal cord, damages the covering of nerves, therefore causing neurological symptomatology."

At first, his symptoms are sporadic.

Sheehan said, "Tingling, your hands fall asleep, stumbling, not being able to move my fingers very well at all."

Over time, the disease goes into a secondary progressive stage, where patients stop getting better and start accumulating neurological deficits.

Sheehan said, "Every year or twice a year I'll be continually getting these attacks, and they would always leave me with some kind of damage. My fingers would tighten up. I couldn't move that well anymore. I become very tired slurred speech."

Every hour, someone is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Although it affects women two and half times more frequently, when it affects men, they are affected worse.

Lava said, "More commonly, we see visual difficulties, sensory complaints, numbness or tingling weakness of an extremity, sometimes bladder difficulties."

The debilitating disease has no cure, but Sheehan is not letting it get the best of him.

He said, "I walk with double crutches. I climb ladders. I do all kinds of things that MS people aren't suppose to do. I'm a stubborn old man."

He struggles everyday, especially getting dressed. But if anyone has the right attitude, it's this guy.

He said, "Stupidity, dumb Irish. We're all going to die, so you just have to play the hands, the cards. You can't mess around with this, so plenty of Michelob and Guinness everyday -- just a little bit."