Even in illness, this vet's in command

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The Virginian-Pilot
© April 1, 2007



Andrew A. "Scott" Smith enlisted in the Navy three decades ago out of Winchester, Mass., exchanging his youthful knack for finding trouble for life in the submarine service.

So started a ride from seaman to officer, from a private guy to an advocate for those with a debilitating disease.

When it was time for boot camp, Smith heard he was headed to Florida. By Florida, the Navy meant Great Lakes, Ill., in February. Yeah, it was cold enough for him.

Things warmed up a year later. The day he bought his first motorcycle, he noticed a Mississippi lady sitting at a table across a dance floor.





"Stand up," he called out.

She rose, all 5-foot-2 of her - the perfect height.

Smith is 5-3.

"You single?" he asked.

"He was lucky that night I wasn't wearing heels," Pat Smith, a registered nurse, recalled. I met the Smiths, now married 29 years, Friday at their Chesapeake home.

Scott Smith, 53, rose through enlisted ranks and was commissioned an officer in 1985. In 1996, he started falling down. His speech slurred. Folks assumed he was drinking.

Doctors suspected he had Lou Gehrig's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Nerve cells that produce movement can't send messages to the voluntary muscles, which waste away. Smith's case progressed too slowly to be ALS. For a few years, a period in which some people diagnosed with ALS may die, he didn't know what the problem was.

In 2000, he was promoted to commander. While stationed in Hawaii, he was sent to UCLA Medical Center and diagnosed with primary lateral sclerosis. It resembles ALS, but it progresses much more slowly and muscle doesn't waste away.

His Navy days done after 25 years, he retired and moved here, to a place he had been stationed. Members of his family had moved here, too.

"Retired" might not be the right word for Smith.

"He does so much," his wife told me. "It drives me crazy."

He got active with the ALS Association, an organization dedicated to fighting the disease, and organized a support group three years ago. He hoped it could help him, too.

Smith started helping other patients with similar illnesses. He's arranged the construction of 11 ramps at homes of people with ALS or other disabilities. This month, he and his family will be recognized at the Hampton Roads Volunteer Achievement Awards.

Smith spoke slowly, but I heard Boston in his voice. He used a cane. He's got a walker but doesn't care to use it.

He's got two children, two grandchildren, and helping hands through the Deep Creek Ruritan Club and others to help build the ramps. Smith figures out what somebody needs, plans, then calls in his "victims" to supply the labor.

"He used to be more private," Pat Smith said. "I think his thinking changed when he found out how short life can be."

"People who sit down with these diseases, and the disease becomes them, they don't last long," Scott Smith said.

He doesn't feel disabled when he rides. His main motorcycle is a Harley converted as a trike. It's painted with a saying by a Navy commander.

Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!


Reach John Doucette at (757) 446-2793 or john.doucette@pilotonline.com.