Mark A. Chambers

January 19, 2018

Mark Chambers, 66, of Huron, completed his circle of life on January 19, 2018. On June 13, 1997 at Rt. 13 and 250, in Milan, he was hit by a Ranger truck on his way to work. He had been confused when they installed the new traffic signal and spent 13 days in the Medical College of Ohio with injuries that should have killed him. He spent long hours in rehab to come back to doing the best he could with his muscles getting weaker.

He was diagnosed with myotonic muscular dystrophy in January of 2004. A DNA test explained why he was having trouble releasing his grip after shaking hands. The course of his life shifted to living as long as he could including a broken foot when he stepped behind a tow motor and crashing his bike into a sign post a block way from home. He also launched himself off the bottom step when he put the wrong foot first and landed on the boulevard while on crutches.

He had to stop working at IPC in July of 2004 due to not being able to keep up. In August of 2005, he was Honorably discharged from the National Guard unit in Norwalk for the same reason.

He went from walking with a cane, to using a walker and finally a wheel chair. On January 10, he fell and the squad was called and they picked him up. Two hours later they came back because he sat down in a chair and couldn't go any further. No matter what was going on with him physically, be it blood clots, a punctured lung or 6 broken ribs, he kept at it. He had been looking forward to watching the Super Bowl and I know he got to see it somewhere.

His favorite thing to do towards the end was feeding the seagulls at various places. He was able to forget about his lack of mobility and strength and always laughed while watching the birds appear as they swarmed to grab scraps of tortilla that he threw on the ground.