After 10 years at facility, man with Lou Gehrig's disease returns home
Sunday, August 12, 2007
By Christina Hildreth

childreth@citpat.com -- 768-4924

From the day in 1997 when her father checked into Jackson County Medical Care Facility, Tammy Sprunger wished he could come back to live with family.


Ten years later, Roger Kirkby finally has.

Kirkby, 67, has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. His daughters, Tammy and Wendy Sprunger, have watched him fade over the years. Though his mind remains sharp, the neurodegenerative disease has largely paralyzed him, curled his hands and stolen his speech.

Kirkby is confined to a bed, dependent on caregivers for movement or interaction.

But at least he's home.

Pat Cagne, a social service coordinator at the medical care facility, said it is extremely rare for someone who has been at the facility for so long, and has a degenerative disease like ALS, to go home.

In fact, most patients with ALS are only expected to live three to five years after diagnosis, said Elizabeth Masserang, a social worker for the Troy chapter of the ALS Association. Kirkby was diagnosed at age 48, and has lived with the disease for 19 years.

However, with the help of several local assistance agencies, Kirkby has made the transition away from the nursing home, which he left in early June.

DisAbility Connections built a ramp into Tammy Sprunger's home in Hanover for Kirkby's wheelchair, provided and installed a $20,000 lift system and helped her contract with local home health services to provide respite care.

Though she had no complaints about how her father was cared for at the medical care facility, Tammy said it is less expensive to have him at home. And it lets him spend more time with his family.

Having Kirkby in her home means Tammy provides most of his care. Her daily labors are many -- she wakes him, bathes him, dresses him, feeds him, reads to him.


On nice days, she loads him into his wheelchair for a walk in the woods surrounding her house.

Tammy has surrounded her dad's bedroom with mementos of his life -- his rock and mineral collections, newspaper clippings reporting on his many inventions, a picture of him and his late wife.

Her rewards are small, but meaningful. Her eyes light up when her dad seems alert.

The sisters, who married brothers, already had their hands full before their dad came home. Tammy, 35, works part-time at the beauty salon at Vista Grand Villa; Wendy, 33, attends Baker College. Tammy and her husband, James, have a son, Jamie, 14. Wendy and her husband, Adam, have three children -- Brandon, 12; Randy, 10; and Lizzy, 8.

Wendy Sprunger cares for her father three days a week. She said helping out demands a lot of time, but she does it out of love.

"I feel like I owe it back to him," Wendy said.

Kirkby receives respite-care services -- visiting caretakers who tend to his needs when the sisters have other obligations or just need a break -- at discounted rates thanks to disAbility Connections and Southfield-based ALS of Michigan.

Under his family's care, Kirkby's condition seems to be improving, they say. His hands have uncurled enough to hold a washcloth, he can wiggle his legs, and he has regained enough muscle control to play a modified version of chess with Tammy.

After he was admitted to the medical care facility and ALS had paralyzed him, the sisters tried to keep him active.

For his birthday this year, Tammy took him to a rock and mineral show at the Masonic Temple in Michigan Center and then home to visit the family.

"He ended up blinking more recently when I had him coming out here to the house," she said. "At the rock and mineral show, he would move and turn and look at the people more so than he had."

Spurred on by his increased responsiveness, she decided it was time to bring him home.

Tammy said the work has been worthwhile to see him happier.

"It's just kind of amazing all the different things that have come together," she said. "I basically wanted to have him have a better life than what he was having. Right now, this is the best I can give to him."



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