Man-about-town Jeff Smith rolls with the punches of 2 chronic neurological disorders

Jeff Smith lies on a padded table at Comp Rehab Plaza.

He breathes deeply, as if to muster his strength and resolve, then slowly rolls onto his stomach, his ever present Smitty’s Notes cap perched firmly atop his head.

Sarah Strahm, his physical therapist, cautions him against rolling too close to the edge of the table.

“Trust me,” Smith tells her. “I know where the edge is.”

“Smitty,” as he is widely known among the seen-and-be-seen crowd in Winston-Salem, isn’t about to go off the edge, whether it be here on a physical therapy table or in his life, where he is facing some extraordinary health challenges.

Smith, whose popular e-newsletter Smitty’s Notes has been creating buzz about events in the city for more than a decade, has multiple sclerosis. It is a disease of the central nervous system that has hampered his mobility to the point that he must use a walker and wheelchair. He also has chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, CIDP, an autoimmune disorder diagnosed in 2006 that causes loss of sensation in the arms and legs. Like MS, it is a chronic condition.

Yet, he continues to live an active life, working full time as a litigation paralegal, pouring 30 hours a week into his newsletter and website and serving on the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation’s advisory board.

“I can say nothing changed with me except I’m moving slower,” said Smith, 46. “I was a patient man before. I’m even more of a patient man today because of MS.”

Wheelchair, walker

MS affects people differently. It may cause muscle spasms, vertigo and paralysis.

Some people may recover completely or partially from attacks; others will suffer attacks that progressively weaken their neurologic function.

Smith’s first, and only, attack came last year in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. He was falling down at least once a week and didn’t feel well. The weekend before Thanksgiving, he checked himself into the hospital, and, in the course of his five-day stay, was told that he had MS.

He was discharged the day before Thanksgiving with two items in tow — a walker and wheelchair. Without them, he would not be able to get around.

“My internal gyroscope is off,” he said recently while waiting for his physical-therapy appointment. “When I stand up, everything is out of sync.”

Having already told his father and brother to go on to visit his sister in Atlanta, Smith spent Thanksgiving alone in his condominium, digesting the significance of the diagnosis.

“I was OK with that,” he said. “I was happy to be home on Thanksgiving.”

Smith took off a month of work to rest and reflect on how his life would change.

CIDP left Smith with an inability to move the front part of his left foot, causing it to “drop” or drag. To compensate, he used a walking stick.

“I am the lucky recipient of two neurological disorders,” he said dryly.

Time to reach out

His friend, Stephanie Nelson, noticed that Smith had retreated for a while.

But it wasn’t long before he began to reach out through social media.

“He’s a big social-media guy,” Nelson said. “And I started reading about it online. He was very candid.”

Smith’s father, Hugh Smith, said that it was difficult to see his once-healthy son use a wheelchair. But that pain has been lessened by the graceful way in which Smitty has confronted his health issues.

“He is a realist,” Hugh Smith said, “and when you’re a realist, you don’t sit there and say it’s going to go away.” Hugh Smith has his own issues with mobility. He suffers from ulcerative colitis, which can cause joint inflammation, among other symptoms. He can’t run, jump or swim. Tasks as simple as changing the gears in a car cause tremendous pain.

He speculated that his son might have learned a few lessons by watching him manage his pain and impaired mobility.

Smitty said that his father might be right.

“I never thought of Daddy’s condition as adverse because it never stopped him from doing what he wanted to do,” he said. “If it did, he made adjustments. I guess that’s where I got that from.”

For Smith, those adjustments include using a curb service to get groceries and thinking ahead before traveling. If he can’t find parking nearby, he won’t go out. Downtown events can be particularly difficult to reach, he said.

Neither neurological disorder, Smith said, has stopped him from working and socializing. Although he is no longer the fixture at local events that he once was, Smith said that is more the result of changing interests than his health.

“Are you doing the same things you did in 1997?” he said. “Once I hit 40, I started slowing down.”

When he does go out, people sometimes look a bit startled when they see him in a wheelchair. He encourages them to ask questions. And he wants them to know that he’s doing fine.

He declined to say how he spent Thanksgiving this year, but it’s safe to say that he was in better spirits than last year. A natural inclination toward optimism has carried him through a difficult year.

“You scratch your head and say, ‘How did I get two neurological disorders?’ You don’t plan it,” he said. “But you live with it.”

lo’donnell@wsjournal.com

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