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Legally blind Palm Coast man driven to write

Uses magnifying lens to help him write, illustrate 10 books

PALM COAST — The night that surgeons removed Ronald Adams’ right eye, his kidneys failed.

It was arguably the low point in a lifelong series of struggles that included abuse by teachers, battles with alcohol and drugs, and a series of health problems that led him to the brink of death more than once.

But faith, tenacity and the support of others have helped him to overcome the many obstacles chronicled in his memoir, “No Mountain Too High To Climb.”

Though considered legally blind, Adams is the author of 10 books and is planning to write more.

“If I start something, I finish it,” he said.

“No Mountain Too High To Climb” was written at a time when his sight was limited to whatever blurry images his remaining eye could make out — the result of an extreme case of diabetes.

The book covers 56 years of his life, beginning with his birth into a family of migrant workers. It recounts the cruelty he endured in school because of his race, the victories and failures of his youth, and his perseverance in the face of a brutal illness.

WRITING THROUGH IT

On March 24, 1994, Adams got very sick while at work. When he got home, he was nearly too weak to make it inside.

Later, his mother found him lying on the floor, and he was taken to the emergency room.

The news was bad. The doctor told his family that he had diabetes and his sugar level was so high he probably wouldn’t live through the night.

But he did live, despite the fact that his pancreas hadn’t produced insulin in weeks.

What followed was a cycle of setbacks and hospital visits. Through it all, he prayed, worked, exercised and wrote, finishing “A Book Of Faith” in 1996. He was determined to beat the illness, and an unwavering faith that he would one day be cured sustained him.

Over the years, he suffered a progressive decline. By 2005, when he moved to Palm Coast, his vision was failing in both eyes. Glaucoma eventually claimed the sight in his right eye.

He said he also lost most of his teeth and had trouble with fluid building up in his body. He battled high blood pressure, high cholesterol, potential heart problems and failing kidneys.

“At this point I said to myself, 'Is there anything else that could go wrong?' ” he later wrote.

On June 12, 2007, he lost both his right eye and the use of his kidneys. Dialysis kept him alive.

The following February, he began to write and illustrate a children’s book, “The Adventures of Junior and Mousey in the Land of Puttin Pow — Don’t Talk To Strangers.” He managed this with the aid of high-powered reading glasses and a magnifying lens.

He wrote three books this way.

“It was tough, because I have to write and reread the book at least five times, each book,” he said. “My eyesight gets blurry, and by the time I finish a book, I have headaches and withdrawals. My eye aches. And it’s just that some force is moving me to just write, because that’s all I could do.”

FAITH REWARDED

The "cure" he had long believed was coming arrived on March 25, 2008, 14 years almost to the day after he was diagnosed. He received a double transplant: a kidney and a pancreas.

The vision in his left eye eventually returned and his writing picked up.

But sitting all day at his job with LC Industries, a Daytona Beach-based company that hires only the legally blind, he experienced trouble with his transplants.

“The only relief I had was to go home and write,” he said. “And that’s when my computer broke down.”

This sudden inability to satisfy his strong desire to write depressed him, but the Department of Education’s Division of Blind Services bought him a new computer.

Terri Titus, senior rehabilitation specialist for the blind, said she's impressed with Adams’ self-motivation.

“You’ve got a prosthetic eye, you’ve had a double transplant, you’re trying to work with diabetic retinopathy, being legally blind — these are all extreme challenges,” she said. “You know, a lot of people would just give up.”

Adams now has 20/30 vision in his left eye with a corrective lens, though the absence of his right eye still classifies him as legally blind.

Espanola volunteer Katherine Jefferson recalled when she first met Adams. She was at a hairdresser one day in 2006 when he came by with crayons and copies of his coloring book for children at the shop. At the time, she didn’t realize the books were his work. She asked for and received several copies for children she tutored.

She said she had no idea he was disabled.

“From meeting him and talking to him, you would never even have thought of it,” she said.

Jefferson eventually got to know Adams and his personal story and invited him to visit her church, where today he is an active member.

Adams’ latest book is “The Adventures of Junior and Mousey in the Land of Puttin Pow — No More Bullying.” The book ties into his ideas for an anti-bullying strategy he hopes schools will adopt. It would provide incentives for students to stay out of trouble and abstain from bullying, he said.

Describing his writing regimen, Adams said, “All I do is get up, write, get up, write, get up, write, get up, write.”

This punishing practice impacts his health even now. He’s just finished writing a new book and said his eyesight is a little blurry and his ankles and legs are swollen.

“Sometimes the challenges are great, and I have to do some things or I start falling into my pain and suffering,” he said. “That’s why I write.”