Georgia woman with ALS calls donated minivan ‘a blessing’

Donna Jones, a registered nurse from Dodge County, died of Lou Gehrig’s disease last fall.

She was 64.

She and her husband, Gary, had been married 39 years.

They’d met at the Eastman hospital where Gary was an X-ray technician.

After Donna was diagnosed in June 2013 and needed round-the-clock care, the only person she wanted taking care of her was Gary.

Gary cries a little when he tells how hard it was seeing the woman he loved “diminish every day.”

Gary, 72, was in Macon on Friday at the Northside Drive rehabilitation center where Donna had gone for treatment.

A clinic there specializes in helping patients with the disease that is also known as ALS, which attacks nerve cells that control the muscles.

Two years ago, as Donna’s condition grew worse, Gary bought a Dodge minivan. It came with a wheelchair ramp and a lift that raises and lowers the van.

The van was 10 years old and cost $26,000, but it helped the Joneses get around.

They went to see their granddaughter play softball. They rode to see a son in Valdosta.

As the disease progressed, Donna wasn’t well enough to go places.

And after she died, Gary didn’t need the van.

Their family figured someone else could use it.

A month or so ago they donated it.

A patient at the Macon clinic named Peggy Richardson, diagnosed with ALS last year, lives 90 miles away in Columbus and needed transportation to her appointments every few months.

On Friday, the Macon clinic hosted an informal ceremony. Richardson met Gary again and they had pictures made.

Richardson, 52, once a housekeeper at a Columbus hospital, says the van has been “a blessing.”

She also uses it to get to church.

“The most important thing,” she says.

Her husband drives — just like Gary did for Donna.

Before Gary handed over the keys, he was cleaning out the van and found Donna’s sunglasses in the glove compartment.

He gets tears in his eyes when he talks about finding them.

“I put them in my car,” he says, in the glove box.

This story was originally published May 20, 2016 at 5:40 PM with the headline "Georgia woman with ALS calls donated minivan ‘a blessing’."