Inspirational journey goes on
By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer
Sixty-four years ago last Thursday, baseball great Lou Gehrig died at age 37 of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, an incurable disease that now bears his name.
Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser
Former Punahou School and Michigan State University football standout Charlie Wedemeyer, 59, has fought Lou Gehrig's disease for the past 29 years.
Charlie Wedemeyer and wife Lucy have traveled across the globe to give speeches on his battle with Lou Gehrig's Disease.
Yet today ... today Wedemeyer considers himself ... the luckiest man on the face of the earth.
"Charlie feels very blessed," said Lucy Wedemeyer, his wife of 38 years. "Every day is a precious gift, a miracle to be treasured."
The Wedemeyers, who live in Los Gatos, Calif., will share that gift this morning at Honolulu's Central Union Church and this evening at the Hawai'i High School Athletic Association/Nissan Hall of Honor recognition dinner at Sheraton Waikiki.
Although ALS has robbed Charlie of any movement except in his face, he insists it also has enriched his life by allowing him to inspire others.
He communicates through Lucy — who reads his lips and eye movements — and gives inspirational speeches with her throughout the year. That's when he's not coaching JV football at Los Gatos High School in the fall.
"That's (also) why I'm still on the football field," Charlie said yesterday. "I'm hoping if a kid is faced with some challenge or difficulty, they will think of me and remember to not give up."
'A tool' for others
It would be difficult for anyone who spends any amount of time with the Wedemeyers not to come away inspired. They were high school sweethearts at Punahou, where Charlie played quarterback and halfback and was a three-time all-star in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu.
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In 1964, he was named ILH Player of the Year.
Lucy and Charlie Wedemeyer, who began their "journey" as high school sweethearts from Punahou, were married in 1966 in East Lansing, Mich.
At Michigan State, Charlie was a receiver for the No. 2-ranked 1966 team that played No. 1 Notre Dame in college football's famed "Game of the Century."
After getting married and graduating, the Wedemeyers settled in Los Gatos, a small town about 15 miles southeast of San Jose. They had two children, Carri and Kale, and Charlie began a successful career as a math teacher and football coach at Los Gatos High.
Then in 1976, he started dropping the chalk when writing math problems on the chalkboard in class. After similar difficulties with his hands, he went to see a doctor, and eventually he was diagnosed with ALS.
Lou Gehrig's disease is an incurable neurodegenerative disorder that attacks nerve cells and pathways in the brain and spinal cord. The result is a loss of muscle control and movement.
ALS, which affects one out of every 50,000 people, accelerates quickly and many patients totally succumb within two or three years of diagnosis.
In Charlie's case, he was given only one year to live.
But the Wedemeyers did not focus on what was taken away.
"In the beginning we didn't see anything positive about it, but then we renewed our faith in God and realized we are a tool that can be used to help other people," Lucy said. "I think Charlie realized what an awesome responsibility he had been given, that there is a plan and purpose for everything."
Even as his condition worsened to the point where he lost his ability to walk, talk and even breathe on his own, Charlie continued to coach football and guided Los Gatos to the section championship in 1985.
'Misery is an option'
The Wedemeyers' story soon became legendary beyond Hawai'i and Northern California, with a made-for-TV movie broadcast nationally in 1988.
Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser
Charlie and Lucy later began a tour of inspirational speaking engagements that took them across the country and to England, France, Italy and Switzerland.
Charlie Wedemeyer gets assistance from nurse Angela Palelei at his alma mater, Punahou School, yesterday.
"Charlie joked about the Switzerland one, asking us why we were going," Lucy said. "You see, euthanasia is a big deal over there ..."
Lucy said a sense of humor has been critical to Charlie's survival over the past three decades, as has faith, family support and a constantly positive attitude. In recent years, they have cut back on the travel but added on the role of grandparents.
They now have three grandkids, ages 10, 4 and 2.
"We had no idea how much fun it would be to be grandparents," said Lucy, who still works as a real estate broker. "Our lives are very full, but very kapakahi."
Back in 1977, not many people thought Charlie would live long enough to see Carri get married and have her own family, or to watch Kale play football for the University of Pacific, participate in the Hula Bowl (as Charlie did back in 1969) and eventually become a doctor.
Not many thought Charlie would live to be here for his 40th class reunion, which starts this coming week.
And not many thought he would someday take up cooking.
"He tells you how to chop the food, how to do the seasoning and how to cook it," Lucy said. "He'll make teriyaki salmon, and he's been on Sam Choy's show. He has the 'Hawaiian eye' in food."
After 40-plus years together, Charlie and Lucy still have that teenage gleam in their eye, especially yesterday during lunch at Punahou.
"It is incredibly special for me to be here," Charlie said, "because this is where we started our journey together."
It's a journey that took them from sellout crowds at old Honolulu Stadium, to Big Ten football at Michigan State, to making a difference in the lives of thousands of people with ALS, other terminal illnesses or just everyday problems.
And it's a journey that has not yet ended.
"I think it's important to remember that we will all be confronted with adversity that may seem insurmountable," Charlie said yesterday. "When it does happen, we have to remember that God has given us the freedom of choice: We can choose to feel sorry for ourselves, be bitter and angry, and cause everybody to be miserable. Or we can become a stronger and better person for it.
"Pain and suffering are inevitable — we all experience it. But misery is an option.
"We do get to make that choice."
Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2456.
