Josh Winheld, a 1996 graduate of Cheltenham High School, was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), a fatal genetic neuromuscular disorder, before he reached five years of age. He was confined to a wheelchair by his tenth birthday.
While most diagnosed with the disease do not reach age 25, Winheld lived past age 32, earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in urban studies along the way. In March 2018, he was featured in an article by The Philadelphia Inquirer for making the final revisions to his master’s thesis on handicapped accessibility.
“With a deadline looming and on the verge of exhaustion, nothing was going to stop me,” he wrote in his blog, titled Winheld’s World. “If only for a moment, I was able to recapture some of my old magic, pushing myself every time I wanted to take a break. Just after midnight, I submitted my paper.”
He was also featured by The New York Times in an article titled “Lacking Cure, a New Tack on a Muscle Disease“. An excerpt:
Now, at age 29, Mr. Winheld is among the oldest Duchenne patients seen at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, in part because of the unusually close oversight of his doctors. But the recent discussion of new drugs, however promising, holds little hope for him because he is already almost completely paralyzed.
10 years earlier, he was interviewed by Fox News on his birthday.
Among Winheld’s timeless contributions is the Joshua A. Winheld/Charlotte W. Newcombe Endowment Scholarships for students with a physical disability, courtesy of Temple University, his alma mater.
He also chronicled a 352-page autobiography, Worth the Ride: My Journey with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, which describes the ways in which his life was profoundly affected by the disease but not defined by it. All 75,000 words were typed using a special hands-free computer that he controlled with head movements.
According to The Inquirer, he donated the profits to Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy, a nonprofit organization focused on advocacy and funding research.
According to local historian Chuck Langerman, DMD didn’t stop Winheld from attending Cheltenham schools where he took honors classes and attended senior prom. An avid baseball fan, he also took trips to Chicago’s Wrigley Field and Phillies’ spring training camps in Clearwater, Florida.
Langerman writes, “Josh’s book is a story of strength and triumph. It’s an inspirational memoir, and it was fascinating to read about his membership in the Cheltenham Township community. In reading this book you will find yourself recognizing parts of your own past. It’s a book that has much to offer everyone.”
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Photos courtesy of Winheld’s blog, PhillySkyline.com