Man fulfills dream destinations in specially designed RV

posted by AmericanRV @ 11:25am, Tuesday 10 January 2012.


Bill Yattaw and his wife Myrna used to visit The Springs RV Resort near Silver Springs Florida nearly every winter. That is, every winter until Bill got too sick to go. Then in September, when Myrna passed away Bill felt his time here on Earth was over as well. That is until he and his son-in-law had a conversation that reminded him of all the places he had yet to see. Bill hadn’t gotten to see the Grand Canyon or Mount Rushmore in all of his 80 years, and the reason why he and Myrna had stopped going to Silver Springs each winter is because Bill had become stricken with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. 


According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, ALS is a disease of the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement. In ALS, nerve cells (neurons) waste away or die, and can no longer send messages to muscles. 
This eventually leads to muscle weakening, twitching, and an inability to move the arms, legs, and body. The condition slowly gets worse. When the muscles in the chest area stop working, it becomes hard or impossible to breathe on one's own. So, of course it's understandable why when Myrna passed on, Bill wanted to go as well. Myrna had been his care taker and the love of his life for 54 years. But the talk with Bills son-in-law proved that Bill had some spark of life still left burning, and his daughter and son-in-law purchased a used RV that had once belonged to a quadriplegic woman. The RV is equipped with a hospital bed and lift, which will make transporting Bill a little easier. 
 According to Ocala.com the families first trip was back to none other than The Springs RV Resort for a test run to see how Bill could hold up to traveling, and his daughter is happy to report that he is doing better than expected and Bill was elated to see his old friends that he and Myrna hadn’t seen since he was unable to travel with her.  
This is such an inspiring story and we aren’t the only ones that think so. While on their trip, the family was approached by a producer for the National Geographic Channel, who expressed interest in documenting Yattaw’s planned trips to the different national parks so this beautiful story could be shared.  As Bill mentioned in his interview with Ocala.com he still deeply misses Myrna and thinks about her often. 
We are so touched by this story, and we just hope that Bill can feel Myrna with him on each and every trip he makes, experiencing through him each adventure he goes on, and that he is contented knowing that like all of us, she couldn’t be more proud of him.

Photo of Bill sourced from Ocala.com  
Photo of Silver Springs courtesy of Jane Ramsdell

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