Time
Robin McGraw leads by example
by Gary Sullivan
Ten years ago, Robin McGraw knew several people living
with multiple sclerosis, although
he knew little about the disease.
As a paramedic fluent in French,
McGraw was hired in 2002 by
the Tyler Hamilton Foundation
to act as the medical director for
its first MS Global ride, which
wound its way through France,
Germany and Switzerland.
“I was there to assess and
treat anyone who had an
accident or injury,” he recalls.
“Five riders had MS, and over
the two-week ride, I got to know
them a bit—and what living
with this chronic disease was like
for them. When I got back to
the States, I told the Foundation
that I wanted to donate my time
rather than be paid for it.”
Three weeks later, McGraw
accompanied his wife to her
high school reunion. “I was
sitting on a couch having a
beer with two women whose
husbands had been in my wife’s
class,” he says. “They were best
friends and I was telling them
about the ride I’d just been on
when one of them, her eyes
welling up, turned to her friend
and said, ‘I have MS.’ They’d
been very close for a decade, but
only during this conversation
did she feel comfortable
revealing a long-held secret to
her friend.”
Now up and running at
the Chelsea Jewish Nursing
Home’s Leonard Florence
Center for Living in Chelsea,
Mass., the Sonya Slifka House
accommodates 10 people living
with MS. Each resident has
PHOTO COURTESY OF GREATER NEW ENGLAND CHAPTER
country. “It was my first board
meeting,” McGraw recalls,
“and the expectation is for new
members to listen and learn. But
when I heard about this project,
I couldn’t keep myself silent.”
McGraw’s enthusiasm proved to
be contagious.
“I don’t believe there are that many missing
pieces in the MS puzzle. I want it eradicated.”
“It was a cathartic moment
for us all and I realized I was
meant to be involved,” says
McGraw.
McGraw soon connected with
the Society through its office in
Boston and began raising funds
for MS research and programs
benefiting people living with the
disease through Bike MS events.
He was invited to serve on the
Greater New England Chapter’s
board, where he became an
advocate for the creation of
the Sonya Slifka House, the
first urban Green House in the
a private, accessible bedroom
and bathroom, and is served
home-cooked meals made on
site in the kitchen. They’re also
able to socialize with guests as
they wish, taking advantage
of a private meeting space, the
patio or the living room and
fireplace, as well as all that
Boston has to offer. Through
advanced interactive technology
and a dramatically different
administrative structure, the
residents have the ability to
control much that happens in
their lives.
