By Gary Lee Stuber
James B. Miller is a quiet man. You can find him most days at lunchtime at the Clay Senior Center Nutrition lunch tables on main street. There, he spends time with a dozen fellow senior citizens, all who have come to befriend him. He has shared lunch with many of them for years.
“Jimmy has a heart of gold, the best friend anyone can have,” say Barb and Elizabeth who run the Nutrition Center. “We are so thankful he came into our lives. Our days are brighter when he is around.”
You’ll never hear him say anything there. He wasn’t always this quiet. Twelve years ago they found cancer in his throat and sent him to WVU’s Ruby Memorial Hospital where Dr. Chung removed part of his larynx. Five sessions of chemotherapy, 35 radiation treatments, and he had hope. Unfortunately, six years later he was back with cancer in the same location. This time he had a laryngectomy, over the course of six surgeries. Dr. Chung took out his voice box and left him with an open hole in his throat.
David Derby, one of a dozen regulars for lunch, praised him, “Jimmy is always helpful. He is always busy. He shows love and kindness to anyone he meets. We need more Jimmys in the world.”
Dave’s wife Janis echoes those sentiments, “Jimmy is always helpful and so happy to help. He is a great example for all people dealing with illness and still keeps a positive attitude.”
Jimmy believes he knows how the cancer started. It didn’t start where he was raised in Ivydale, West Virginia, in Clay County. Nor at Triplitt Ridge or at Patty Ridge where he spent time in his youth. His parents Irah and Mable Mullins raised a house full of children. His brother Robert and sister Sharon are now gone, but Barbara and Dallas are still alive, as well as another brother, Archie Rush. Except for a single family member there is no history of cancer in his family.
A typical Clay County youth, he graduated from Clay County High School in 1975. On January 19, 1976 Jimmy enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corp and like all east coast volunteers was sent to Parris Island, South Carolina for training. He was given the MOS (job description) of Machine Gunner. Following basic training at Parris Island, and before being sent overseas to Okinawa Japan, like all east coast Marines he finished training at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville North Carolina.
This Jimmy believes is the root of his cancer.
In 1982 they discovered contaminated water in the drinking water at Camp Lejeune. For nearly three decades from 1953 to 1987 up to a million people living and working at Marine Corp Base Camp Lejeune drank this undetected, untested, chemically contaminated water. And it went largely unaddressed for years after that. It has since been linked to various cancers, illnesses and even birth defects. In 1987 and again in 2012 Congress passed laws to allow justice for individuals and families impacted by a growing list of ailments. Not everyone who drank the water got cancer or got ill.
Just like this was not discovered until the late eighties, Jimmy had no reason to believe he was unhealthy after living at Lejeune for over a year. Like everyone else who left the service with an honorable discharge, he began life.
He came back to Clay County where he worked for many years in construction. He built houses working with Terry Bevins among others. And while he never married, he fell in love with Donna Hill and lived with her for many years, keeping her son as his stepson. Donna died six years ago with brain cancer. His stepson, Steven Hill, lives in Charleston and he visits him as often as he can.
Because cancer was not done with Jimmy, even now he is consulting again because he has colon cancer. And while he hasn’t been employed since 2013, he has been hauling junk with his older Chevy S10 truck and a flat bed pull trailer to make ends meet. Back when he was first diagnosed with cancer and had multiple surgeries, he made 52 trips to Morgantown and back. The cost for that 300 mile round trip these days is outrageous just for one trip. He needs financial help.
Jimmy now resides at Glen, WV. He is lucky to do so. Two years ago Jimmy had a heart attack. He said the doctors couldn’t put him to sleep, and recommended he be sent to Hospice instead. Jimmy has retained a lawyer. Or it could better be said, one was retained for him by his sister-in-law in North Carolina. Because Jimmy cannot talk over the phone it has been nearly impossible for him to retain local representation. Few lawyers are willing to make the trek to Clay County to meet with a man who absolutely deserves whatever money they could receive for him, so he has been at the mercy of those who can speak, to do this for him.
Jimmy never slacks or shirks his duties. “I had only known Jimmy for a few months,” Carolyn White said, “He was passing my house as my furniture was being delivered. He stopped to help carry my furniture in. That is a rare quality now a days”
It sure is.
