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Tommy Butler is a resident at Jefferson Lodge, a residential care facility in Fulton, Mo., and has resided there since January 2002. At sixteen, he was diagnosed with Frederick’s Ataxia, a degenerative muscular and bone disease that causes tremors and has left him in a wheelchair. Now, at age thirty-seven, Tommy is without strong familial ties or other close relationships. Consequently, he suffers from depression, for which he takes Prozac. Like much of his life, work has a certain sense of meaninglessness for Tommy: It is ‘just somethin’ to pass the time.’ He says, ‘It’s so boring; it’s like countin’ sheep.’ His days are past with conscious solitude – only a few are filtered through.

"Tommy’s Solitary Journey"


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Tommy Butler is a resident at Jefferson Lodge, a residential care facility in Fulton, Mo., and has resided there since January 2002. At sixteen, he was diagnosed with Frederick’s Ataxia, a degenerative muscular and bone disease that causes tremors and has left him in a wheelchair. Now, at age thirty-seven, Tommy is without strong familial ties or other close relationships. Consequently, he suffers from depression, for which he takes Prozac. Like much of his life, work has a certain sense of meaninglessness for Tommy: It is ‘just somethin’ to pass the time.’ He says, ‘It’s so boring; it’s like countin’ sheep.’ His days are past with conscious solitude – only a few are filtered through.