Diana Hayes of Rangeley holds copies of her new two-volume autobiography “Double Knit,” which have just been released after taking five years to write. (Laura Dunham photo) RANGELEY — If you wanted to leave your family a written legacy of your life, it would be a struggle to complete. But what if you were a quadriplegic and couldn’t move any part of your body below the neck and had to write the two volumes without the use of hands and in a weak voice?

Diana Hayes of Rangeley is in just that position, but is fortunate that the disease is centrally located in the neck and not in her brain. Hayes said she has always had a photographic memory and can recall her life all the way back to when she was four years old. She says that her autobiography would not have been possible with out the assistance of her editor, Joy Bagley, and her publisher, Pepper Tree Press of Sarasota, Fla.

For the past five years Hayes, who lives on the edge of Rangeley Lakes with her caregiver ex-husband Chuck Hayes, has worked as many as 10 hours a day and sometimes seven days a week compiling her autobiography titled “Double Knit.”

Hayes, who was encouraged by her granddaughter to leave this legacy of bits and pieces of her life, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1993. “As I saw my body deteriorate, I knew that I wanted to let my grandchildren know that I have not always been confined to a wheelchair,” Hayes said.

The adventurous life of Diana Hayes is depicted in the first volume, “The Beginning” and recalls her dad, Leon Clair Hutton’s death in 1965 and his funeral, her mom’s 50th birthday event and a trip that she and her mom made to Japan and of course, her love affair with her ex-husband and caregiver ‘Chuck’ since she was 12 years old.

After divorcing, remarrying and then reconnecting with Chuck, he asked Hayes, who was growing weaker ever day, what she would like to do and she said “travel.” So started the couple’s life on the road in a 1986 Holiday Rambler 32-foot-long motor home. “My wish was coming true,” said Hayes. After getting a larger motor home in 1999 they planned a trip to see the United States. And the couple had their new home built in Henderson, N.C. where they spend their winters.

Hayes has a new custom built wheelchair that Chuck (her nursing assistant) can control with a joystick and buttons on the back; or Hayes can turn the chair off and on, change directions, speed and gears by pushing a button with her cheek. A small screen with a flexible arm shows Hayes the menu, which setting she is adjusting and also the angles of her foot pedals, the back rest and the tilt of the seat.

To drive the chair Hayes uses a three-section pad, the head array that goes from ear to ear around the back of the head with her pressing her head to control the chair. The chair will go 15 miles per hour and with her caregiver, Polly Thompson of Phillips, she is able to go downtown in Rangeley.

“All summer I have Polly’s help and dedication,” said Hayes, “and in the fall Polly helps me move back to North Carolina.”

So the next time you feel down in the dumps, just pay Hayes a visit in Rangeley. She will pick your spirits up and will make you realize just how much we should appreciate every day that we can get up and lead a normal life.

You can pick up copies of Hayes’s books at Books, Line and Thinkers in Rangeley or though Amazon.com or e-mail Hayes at djhayes8@yahoo.com.

Hayes just finished her first book signing Aug. 10 at the Rangeley library where she tried to express the struggles of overcoming the dreaded disease MS.

She is now working on her next book on the inadequate design of handicapped facilities that people with such crippling diseases as MS must cope with on a dayto day basis.