Longtime pillar of Arco-area community diagnosed with ALS one month before losing home in fire. Here’s how you can help.
Published at | Updated at
MOORE — For more than two decades, 51-year-old Cheri Pearson was all over the Arco area, doing a little bit of everything.
She was the region’s volunteer EMT for 20 years. She was also on the Lion’s Club and PTA board. She spent her winters on the ski patrol.
It was while she was monitoring the ski hills in February that she started to experience strange symptoms. As she explained, she could not put her gloves on one day — her hand would not cooperate.
Over the next couple of months, the symptoms grew quickly.
She would bite her tongue when she sneezed. While doing her normal volunteer work for the National Spelling Bee, she struggled to do things she’d done for years.
Unable to determine the cause, Pearson’s doctor referred her to a neurologist. In May, she received a preliminary ALS diagnosis, which was confirmed in August following extensive testing at the University of Utah.
ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, “is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord,” according to the ALS Association.
The fire
But in June, things took another turn when the Pearsons’ home was destroyed in a fire.
With her voice failing and emotions building, Pearson was understandably brief with EastIdahoNews.com. But she did take a moment to offer levity while discussing the diagnosis and fire, coming one month apart.
“It’s been a rough year,” she said with a hearty laugh.
Cheri’s husband, Kevin, helps Cheri move around the rental home the family is borrowing from a neighbor — a home Cheri said was, thankfully, furnished for them, as everything they had was destroyed in the fire — started by the lithium-ion battery in a robot vacuum.
Kevin told EastIdahoNews.com that roughly 95% of the family’s belongings sustained smoke damage. The home itself has been torn down to the studs as a complete rebuild, he hopes, will be completed by early spring.
With new needs, Kevin said he is trying to see the fire as a blessing in disguise. As the home is rebuilt, he said, ramps will be installed and doorways widened to accommodate wheelchair access.
‘Try to make the most of things’
The couple has four children — ages 29, 28, 12 and 10 — and they have tried to be as open and honest with them — particularly the younger ones — about what their mother’s diagnosis means.
“Kevin tells the kids, ‘When mom talks, you need to listen,’ which every mom wants to hear,” Cheri said with a laugh.
They have explained to the 10- and 12-year-old that mom will eventually be in a wheelchair, unable to talk.
“But that’s OK. I can still text,” she said. “We’re trying not to be doomsday while being realistic.”
While mostly jovial, Cheri was overcome with emotions when she said she had long wondered what her future held.
Kevin finished the thought for his wife, saying, “We just take it one day at a time — don’t dwell on the future, live life to the most while we still can.”
Kevin said the Pearsons have expedited some of the things they’ve long wanted to do but until now have been putting off.
“We’re going to try to make the most of things,” he said. “The way we put it best is, we’re accelerating our bucket list.”
In August, he and Cheri — longtime lovers of the outdoors — biked the Hiawatha Bike Trail in Shoshone County. Acknowledging that her hiking days are over, Cheri rides alongside her husband on their side-by-side to get her nature fix.
They have also planned a family vacation to Orlando this Christmas to visit Universal Studios and Sea World and escape the cold. One of their dreams has long been to go on an Alaskan cruise, and Kevin is working to figure out if and how that would be possible.
The community Cheri has given so much to has been working to thank her.
Neighbors have done the family’s laundry for them, cooked meals for them and offered childcare when it has been required.
Fundraiser
Part of that offer to assist will occur Sunday, when the community will hold a fundraiser to help the Pearsons.
In a flyer provided to EastIdahoNews.com, people in Moore have asked others to “Be a part of Team Cheri” and to “Show up for Cheri” at Butte High School for potluck and silent auction.
Items to be auctioned off include food items, a stay at the Champagne Creek Yurt and an assortment of services.
The event begins at 4:30 p.m. in the school cafeteria and gym.
Click here for more information.