Chairborne - A Column by Ben Hofmeister

How to ask for help ā€” and offer it

Just three years before I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), I was on what was to be my last overseas tour with the U.S. Army. One day while dozing during a lull in a mission, I was awakened by the sensation of someone standing over me.

How good surveillance can help detect the early signs of MS

About four years before I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), someone else inadvertently ā€œdiagnosedā€ me. This person wasn’t medically trained, probably had no personal knowledge of MS, and didn’t actually use the words ā€œmultiple sclerosis.ā€ Still, they gave me one of the best clues in my quest…

My multiple sclerosis has made me more suspicious

As I’ve mentioned a time or two, my wife and I have three boys. Although they’re all under the age of 12, they’ve started to talk like the budding teenagers they are. As they mingle with peers more than their parents, their vocabulary in particular becomes less like ours every…

How do you define defiance while living with MS?

Recently, I was asked about the design on the left side of my “Chairborne” banner. A friend from my previous occupation humorously noted that in the original graphic, there’s a skull in the center where the wheelchair now resides. I pointed out that in my current state, a wheelchair…

Parachuting my way through this life with MS

Ten minutes away from the drop zone, we stood up and began the final preparations for the jump. The aircraft flew in anything but a straight line as it turned, banked, and swiftly changed altitude. This unpredictable flying technique was tactically sound, as it made the plane difficult to target,…