HERNANDO COUNTY (Bay News 9) -- Some Hernando High School classmates who had been out of touch for decades reunited to help one of their own battle a debilitating disease.
Joey Merrion has multiple sclerosis and has a very hard time getting out of his house in Brooksville.
To get out of his home, Merrion has to get his wheelchair through a door and off a ledge or even down stairs. It's almost impossible.
Cheryl Holley and other members of the class of 1983 from Hernando High School are working to make thing easier on Merrion.
Merrion was supposed to show up to the class reunion this summer, but he didn't make it.
"I didn't think anybody was going to miss me," he said. "I really didn't."
Twenty-five years had passed and his classmates did miss him and found out that he needs a wheelchair ramp, so this weekend they decided to build him one.
When word got out about what the class of '83 was up to, the donations poured in. All the wood and much, much more didn't cost a dime.
Merrion's classmates are also fixing up parts of the inside of his house, which will make it easier for him to get around in his wheelchair.