Vietnam veteran remains active despite physical ailments

Local Vietnam veteran remains active despite physical ailments

By RICK JAKACKI
Times Herald
April 9, 2010


Chuck Zimmer is nearly 60, legally blind and suffers from a number of physical ailments.


Yet the Port Huron resident isn't letting any of that slow him down.

Zimmer, 59, spent last week participating in the 24th National Disabled Veterans Sports Clinic in Snowmass, Colo. Among the events in which he competed were downhill skiing, fly fishing, goal ball and skeet shooting.

"It was a beautiful time," Zimmer said, adding the city had a couple of blizzards, which dumped more than 20 inches of snow in two days.

A Vietnam War veteran from the 25th Infantry Division, Zimmer has retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic disease that causes the degeneration of photoreceptor cells in the retina. He has almost no vision in his right eye; in his left eye, he has tunnel vision, except his tunnel is the size of a juice box straw.

He also has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (P.T.S.D.) and a variety of other health issues from his exposure to Agent Orange, Zimmer's daughter, Amy Zimmer-Smith said.
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Vietnam veteran remains active despite physical ailments