David Hoffman | Mountain Man Refused To Let MS Stop Him. Courage Plus Grit @DavidHoffmanFilmmaker | Uploaded June 2024 | Updated October 2024, 4 hours ago.
This story is about Gary Smith who had Multiple Sclerosis. When this was recorded Smith was a 32‐year‐old folksinger writer & photographer who had spent a good part of his life as a forest and park ranger in the Western wilderness.
Multiple Sclerosis is a neurological disease with no known cure, that gets progressively worse & causes a loss of balance, numbness. in the fingers and great fatigue.
This was filmed when a group of friends from the environmental movement offered to take Mr. Smith on a short expedition into the remote, magnificent red rocks country not far from Lake Powell, so he could test his strength and spend a few, days outdoors.
Mr. Smith speaks of his experiences in the back country and his three years in the Marines.
Long before being struck by multiple sclerosis, Smith, who lived in Logan Utah, had gained a reputation in the mountain West as a renaissance man — an athlete who quoted poetry, a ranger who composed songs about man's relationship to nature & an author of the book titled “Windsinger”.
For two years he was a ranger in Canyonland National Park; before that the first forest service naturalist and wilderness patrolman in the rugged Sawtooth Mountain of Idaho. He says he grew up with the typical Westerner's “macho marksman” attitude. But he reached a turning point when he began to take up mountain climbing. “For the first time, I entered the wilderness without a goal of taking something out of it—without wanting to bring hack a coonskin to hang on the well,” he recalled.
“Windsinger,” which incorporated his photographs and song lyrics, was “dedicated to the concept that Americans are starting to cast aside the invader‐exploiter mentality. An awareness is growing, a nagging, gnawing inner feeling that we've gone wrong and have learn a new lifestyle. We've rebounded off all the frontiers and are now discovering that the American Went is a new kind of frontier of spiritual a discovery.”
When he learned of his disease, he almost lost hope. He woke up each morning not knowing whether his fingers would be nimble enough to strum his guitar. Blurred vision forced him to give up one of his favorite hobbies—flying. Even worse, he said, was the mental stress. But he made up his mind "to fight the disease with music.” He gave concerts and talks for the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation. Most of all, he said, he wanted to fight industrial encroachment on the West's wild lands like the Escalante.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system, including the brain and spinal cord. It is characterized by the immune system mistakenly attacking the protective covering of nerve fibers (myelin) in the central nervous system, which disrupts communication between the brain and the rest of the body.
The exact cause of MS is unknown. It's considered an autoimmune disease where the body's immune system attacks its own tissues. Several factors may increase the risk of developing MS, including genetics, certain environmental factors (such as low vitamin D levels and smoking), and possibly viral infections.
MS symptoms vary widely and depend on the amount of nerve damage and which nerves are affected. Some people with severe MS may lose the ability to walk independently, while others may experience long periods of remission without any new symptoms. There is no cure for MS, but treatments can help manage symptoms and modify the course of the disease.
Researchers are continuously exploring new treatments and seeking to understand the causes of MS. This includes studying the role of genetics, environmental factors, and the immune system in the disease. Advances in disease-modifying therapies offer hope for better management of MS, reducing the impact of the disease on daily life.
Gary Smith died in 1988.
If this video touched you please support my efforts to present more films like this from my archive. The best ways are either click the Thanks button below the video or go to PayPal at paypal.com/me/davidhoffmanfilms.
This story is about Gary Smith who had Multiple Sclerosis. When this was recorded Smith was a 32‐year‐old folksinger writer & photographer who had spent a good part of his life as a forest and park ranger in the Western wilderness.
Multiple Sclerosis is a neurological disease with no known cure, that gets progressively worse & causes a loss of balance, numbness. in the fingers and great fatigue.
This was filmed when a group of friends from the environmental movement offered to take Mr. Smith on a short expedition into the remote, magnificent red rocks country not far from Lake Powell, so he could test his strength and spend a few, days outdoors.
Mr. Smith speaks of his experiences in the back country and his three years in the Marines.
Long before being struck by multiple sclerosis, Smith, who lived in Logan Utah, had gained a reputation in the mountain West as a renaissance man — an athlete who quoted poetry, a ranger who composed songs about man's relationship to nature & an author of the book titled “Windsinger”.
For two years he was a ranger in Canyonland National Park; before that the first forest service naturalist and wilderness patrolman in the rugged Sawtooth Mountain of Idaho. He says he grew up with the typical Westerner's “macho marksman” attitude. But he reached a turning point when he began to take up mountain climbing. “For the first time, I entered the wilderness without a goal of taking something out of it—without wanting to bring hack a coonskin to hang on the well,” he recalled.
“Windsinger,” which incorporated his photographs and song lyrics, was “dedicated to the concept that Americans are starting to cast aside the invader‐exploiter mentality. An awareness is growing, a nagging, gnawing inner feeling that we've gone wrong and have learn a new lifestyle. We've rebounded off all the frontiers and are now discovering that the American Went is a new kind of frontier of spiritual a discovery.”
When he learned of his disease, he almost lost hope. He woke up each morning not knowing whether his fingers would be nimble enough to strum his guitar. Blurred vision forced him to give up one of his favorite hobbies—flying. Even worse, he said, was the mental stress. But he made up his mind "to fight the disease with music.” He gave concerts and talks for the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation. Most of all, he said, he wanted to fight industrial encroachment on the West's wild lands like the Escalante.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system, including the brain and spinal cord. It is characterized by the immune system mistakenly attacking the protective covering of nerve fibers (myelin) in the central nervous system, which disrupts communication between the brain and the rest of the body.
The exact cause of MS is unknown. It's considered an autoimmune disease where the body's immune system attacks its own tissues. Several factors may increase the risk of developing MS, including genetics, certain environmental factors (such as low vitamin D levels and smoking), and possibly viral infections.
MS symptoms vary widely and depend on the amount of nerve damage and which nerves are affected. Some people with severe MS may lose the ability to walk independently, while others may experience long periods of remission without any new symptoms. There is no cure for MS, but treatments can help manage symptoms and modify the course of the disease.
Researchers are continuously exploring new treatments and seeking to understand the causes of MS. This includes studying the role of genetics, environmental factors, and the immune system in the disease. Advances in disease-modifying therapies offer hope for better management of MS, reducing the impact of the disease on daily life.
Gary Smith died in 1988.
If this video touched you please support my efforts to present more films like this from my archive. The best ways are either click the Thanks button below the video or go to PayPal at paypal.com/me/davidhoffmanfilms.
