Firefighter slowly recovering, with much support

[Guest guest]

Firefighter slowly recovering, with much support

BY CINDY SCHROEDER | CSCHROEDER@...

Jim Ramler spent much of the past year in and out of hospitals, battling various ailments after he was diagnosed with hepatitis C years ago.

"I tell people we have a time-share at St. ," his wife, , quipped.

Friends and family are hopeful that 2008 will be a better year for the 23-year volunteer with Crescent Springs-Villa Hills Fire & EMS.

Oct. 23, Ramler finished his fourth hospital stay in two months. He continued IVs at home for a week with antibiotics, then started physical therapy. Although he still tires easily, "every day, you see the color coming back," his wife says. Dec. 3, he returned to work part time at the General Electric plant in Evendale.

Ramler was inspired to go into fire service after losing his mother in the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire 30 years ago. The welder who repairs aircraft engines is part of a first-aid response team for General Electric, and before his illness, he was active in the Villa Hills Civic Club.

Ramler, who works for ADP in Cincinnati, volunteers for the life squad that serves Crescent Springs and Villa Hills.

When Ramler was his sickest, neighbors prepared meals for the 50-year-old Villa Hills resident and his family.

Last month, 110 donors gave more than 90 units of blood at the firehouse and at Ramler's employer, General Electric in Evendale, to replace the 26 units he used during his hospitalizations.

That community good will will continue in 2008.

From 5 p.m. to midnight Feb. 2, the Crescent Springs-Villa Hills fire department and the Villa Hills Civic Club will sponsor a spaghetti dinner and dance to benefit Ramler and his family. Because of his frequent hospitalizations, the firefighter - who has a son at the University of Kentucky - has only been able to earn about 20 percent of his annual salary, and his family is dealing with medical bills in the six figures.

"Jim and his wife are just super people," said Patty Grimes, a member of Crescent Springs-Villa Hills Fire & EMS who is helping organize the benefit. "They've always been the type of people that if you needed something, you could call them, and they'd be there in a matter of minutes. That's just the type of people they are."

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071225/NEWS01/712250367