Meet Jimmy Zell

Yesterday we were taken to the home of Jimmy Zell, a local Jackson Hole resident who was diagnosed with ALS in late 2008. Jimmy’s story is unusual because he had already been confined to a wheelchair some eight year prior to his ALS diagnosis following a paragliding accident.


Jimmy had been a skiing champion. Coming from a well-known skiing family, he appeared in all the major ski magazines in the early ’90s, spending his days skiing from one Alpine mountain to the next all across The Rockies. He was (and is) a revered member of Jackson Hole’s substantial mountain/outdoors community.


Following his paragliding accident Jimmy stubbornly insisted that he should remain as physically active as ever. His friend Ben Cannon (who doubles up as a reporter for The Jackson Hole Weekly) described how Jimmy, now in his early 40s, would often organize parties, train and exercise from his wheelchair and appear regularly at the town’s pubs. Then, just as he was regaining the leg strength that would allow him to walk again, in the winter of 2008, he found himself feeling tired and listless. A few weeks later he was diagnosed with ALS.


I found it very difficult to learn about Jimmy’s story yesterday. He was every bit as friendly and welcoming as I could have hoped; a warm heart, an endearing smile and a good sense of humor shined through in spite of his weakening voice. But here was a man whose whole life had been spent on the mountains: Ben and Jimmy joked that he had never been married because he was too busy skiing. To see a man like this reduced to the state where he barely has the strength to type at the computer, shake a hand or open a drink bottle was wrenching. Tony can at least still work and play using his mind. Jimmy can no longer do any of the things that make him who he is, and this is perhaps the greatest living tragedy I have witnessed.


Jimmy lives alone in his home just outside of the town of Jackson. He has friends all over this town who value him and help him, but I could not help but notice the sense of loneliness that Jimmy exudes as he sits alone in his wheelchair watching the World Cup. Jimmy, if you are reading this, you should know that there is a very deep community of people connected to ALS – people who have it, people who work on curing it, people who have been directly affected by it, people like us – who would love to connect with you, if that were something you wanted to do. And send me an e-mail me if you’d like to watch the England vs USA game with us this afternoon (but I hope you won’t be too disappointed with the result!): saul@moveforals.com


I will write the re-cap of the last five days on the road, leading up to Jackson Hole and the start of the World Cup, later this evening.


Saul x