Volunteer groups help Spokane Navy veteran with autoimmune disease

Jason Eagle was enjoying his time in the U.S. Navy when, about a decade ago, he realized something was off.

He started to experience numbness in his leg, lost sensation in his hands and developed tremors.

After a year of evaluations and neurological tests, doctors diagnosed Eagle in 2015 with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP), a rare autoimmune disease of the peripheral nervous system that leads to a loss of strength and sensation.

The condition put an end to his 14-year military career the following year.

“I was heartbroken at that time,” Eagle said.

In honor of Veterans Day, the 4 News Now Extreme Team, Veterans Community Response and Horizon Credit Union teamed up this week to make the life of Eagle and his family easier.

They replaced the deteriorated sidewalk outside their north Spokane home, assembled a shed in their backyard, split firewood and completed yard work in the cold temperatures and rain.

Eagle, 54, said much of the work was outside the initial project scope of replacing the sidewalk. He was extremely grateful for all their efforts.

“I can’t tell you how appreciative I am of everything they’ve done,” Eagle said.

Eagle’s mobility is limited because of his condition. He can walk a little, but often uses his wheelchair and cane.

Jason Eagle and his wife, Candace Eagle, said the badly worn sidewalk damaged the loading part of their wheelchair van. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs repaired the van, but the damaged sidewalk forced Jason Eagle to exit in the middle of his street before using the wheelchair ramp that leads to his front porch.

Candace Eagle, who has been married to her husband for almost 20 years, said the fresh, smooth sidewalk installed Friday won’t damage her husband’s electric wheelchair, and she will no longer have to worry about him tripping and falling on the uneven pathway with his cane.

She said the new sidewalk will also allow the family to clear snow safely. Loose rock from the crumbling sidewalk made shoveling and snowplowing difficult, and the snowblower would sometimes shoot out the rocks it picked up from the sidewalk.

It also means not tracking loose rock into the home.

Crews excavated the sidewalk and poured the concrete Friday. They also poured a concrete slab in the backyard of the Atlantic Street home, just north of Franklin Park, for the shed to go when the concrete dries.

Throughout the week, workers constructed the shed, did yard work, split and stacked firewood, and disposed of the family’s old trampoline.

“The little things they’re doing are going to have huge impacts on our lives, so (we’re) very grateful for it,” Jason Eagle said.

Mark Peterson, who started the Extreme Team about 16 years and over 200 projects ago, said Concrete Cutters, Lance Pounder Excavation, Central Pre-Mix and Wm. Winkler completed the sidewalk. He said the Extreme Team worked on another area Navy veteran’s home and yard this week for Veterans Day.

Peterson said the goal of Extreme Team is to take care of the big projects, so the families they help can take care of smaller tasks.

“We try to get them to the point where what they have to do is manageable, and it really tends to help,” Peterson said. “So, it’s a pretty good feeling.”

He said it’s amazing what veterans do for their country.

“You want to do as much as you can because they’re genuinely very nice people,” Peterson said of veterans.

The Extreme Team often works with Veterans Community Response (VCR), including Travis Alexander.

Alexander, VCR team leader for community responders, said his team split and stacked firewood for the Eagle couple and helped excavate the sidewalk.

Peterson and Alexander said they plan to return to the home for yard cleaning in the spring.

Alexander said he didn’t believe his crew did much, but said the family was extremely appreciative.

“That’s the thing we just have to remember, is every little bit makes a big difference,” Alexander said.

Staying busy in the Navy

Jason Eagle said he loved blowing things up with cannons and seeing the world during his 14-year Navy career.

He got a head start on the world traveling during his childhood when his family moved around for his father’s Navy career.

Jason Eagle was born in California and lived in places like Washington, Maryland, Florida, Virginia, Arizona, Italy and Japan during his childhood.

He was deployed five times, four of them at sea.

Among his duties, he served as a fire controlman where he fired large weapons, like cannons, and worked in counternarcotics, where he seized drugs and detained people.

His sole land deployment was at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he dealt with “high-value” detainees connected with the 9/11 attacks.

Jason Eagle’s oldest son serves in the Navy, and his other two sons, who are 16 and 12, live at home and attend Spokane schools. The Eagle family has lived in Spokane since 2018.

He said he is taking online college classes to attain an associate degree in firearm technology because he wants to be a gunsmith. He already has associate degrees in electrical and mechanical engineering.

Jason Eagle said the Navy believes he got CIDP from the service. He said he was exposed to an airfield where jet fuel was dumped and it’s possible he got the disease from that exposure.

The condition is not curable, and he undergoes infusions every two weeks for treatment. He does certain activities, like weaving, to keep his hands and arms active, and to improve his hand coordination.

The good news, Jason Eagle said, is he’s retired and gets to spend time with his wife and children – something he missed when he was deployed for months at a time.

He said he’s had a rough road, but he’s happy with where he is in life.

“I’ve had a tough life, but I’ve had a lot of good things in my life that balance it out, I think,” he said.