Fairmont native uses her multiple sclerosis to encourage others in forthcoming memoir

Apr. 22—FAIRMONT — Fairmont native, 52-year-old Cheri Warcholak Lohrey, earned a reputation for being the kind of person everyone wanted to meet.

Her family lived in Deerfield Estates and had close relationships with their neighbors. Her mother, Barbara Warcholak, was a homemaker who maintained a positive attitude even though she was often fatigued due to living with multiple sclerosis. Her father, Paul Warcholak, was an educator who later went into sales.

"My parents always had very positive messages," Lohrey said. "My father taught me about the power of the human mind at a very early age."

While attending Fairmont Senior High, she was crowned homecoming queen fall of her senior year. She went on to Fairmont State where she majored in elementary education.

"I was (in Deerfield Estates) till I married," Lohrey said. "I met my college sweetheart at Fairmont State College."

Lohrey taught fourth grade in Ohio for three years and then went on to be a school counselor for 22 years after she earned a master's degree in counseling.

When her mother, Barbara died in 2002, Lohrey wanted to do some kind of tribute to honor her.

Two years later, she signed up for a 150-mile bike ride sponsored by the Multiple Sclerosis Society called "Pedal to the Point" in Fairport Harbor, Ohio where she had lived since after college.

"Seventy-five miles on day one and seventy-five miles on day two, so that was my tribute in honor of my mother," Lohrey said.

In 2008, when her father died from Parkinson's disease, Lohrey wanted to do something to honor him, so she signed up for The 2009 Pirate Triathlon on Lake Erie.

"So, I started training for a mini-triathlon and sprint — a 200 meter swim, a 12-mile bike, and a 5K,"Lohrey said.

Lohrey successfully completed the swim and the bike ride, but something happened near the end of the 5K.

"Almost to the end of the run, I nearly fell. I caught myself with my hands and I was almost at the finish line so I got myself up, kind of walked for a little bit and then down the finish line, I jogged," she said. "My friend's mother was there and she worked for a chiropractor and she just said, 'There's something wrong with Cheri' and, a year later, is when my diagnosis came."

Lohrey learned she had multiple sclerosis like her mother before her and she was devastated.

"I was in a spiral where I had my diagnosis for quite some time and was kind of closed off about sharing it, kind of embarrassed about my lack of energy and feeling like I wasn't able to keep up," Lohrey said.

"In the past couple years of my career, it got to the point where it was too hard and it was noticeable and was taking a toll on myself where I'd get home and have no energy for my own family and it was getting to be too much of just giving everything that I had in me at work, there was nothing left by the time I got home.

"Sometimes it was hard to even get the words out to my family when they asked me questions. The fatigue really set in."

After remaining in the doldrums for about 10 years, Lohrey turned a corner and decided she was going to be happy.

"I spent 10 years trying to compensate the best way that I could until it became more noticeable," Lohrey said.

She said she finally got to a point where she left education and withdrew to take care of herself.

But, her life changed with she found about what's called a walking bike that allows her to sit on a traditional bike seat for rests, but walk upright and be seen. She said it's important to be seen when living with a disability, something she had to learn.

"When you're with a cane or a wheelchair or a transport chair, people don't look you. They don't look at you the same," Lohrey said.

In 2022, she began writing down her journey of how she had handled living with MS and decided she had a message that was worth sharing with others.

This June, Lohrey's message of hope will be published as the memoir titled "Powered by the Pivot" by Transcendent Publishing.

"It's a beautiful gift that I was able to live life and be active and now what MS is teaching me is to pivot, to pause, to breathe and to pivot — figure out a different way," Lohrey said. "If something's not working, just figure out a different way. I have really adopted that belief."

For about a year, Lohrey has been sharing different aspects of her book on Facebook where she keeps in contact with one of her former Deerfield Estates neighbors, Sue Montgomery.

"Her mother was my best friend. We used to so everything together," Montgomery said. "I'm just happy for Cheri. She's a special person and she's worked very hard."

Lohrey keeps in touch with her former algebra teacher, Diana Munza, who splits her time in retirement between Florida and Fairmont.

"I'm just awful proud of her and can't wait to see the finished product," Munza said.

Munza said she was devastated when she learned that Lohrey had MS, but then she got to thinking and she assured herself her former student could turn it into a positive.

"Of course, you're very distraught knowing the problems she was going to face with it. However, I was not surprised that she was going to use this as an opportunity to inspire other people who may be going through this or any other difficulty in their lives," Munza said.

"I'm sure this is something she has poured her whole heart and soul in and it's like everything else she tackles, she does it 110%.

Reach Eric Cravey at 304-367-2523.