Jim Plews-Ogan

1956 - 2024

Jim Plews-Ogan

June 11, 1956 - July 3, 2024

Jim Plews-Ogan, beloved husband, father, grandfather, pediatrician and advocate, died peacefully at home surrounded by his family, on July 3rd, 2024, after a long battle with ALS.

Jim led an extraordinary life. Born in Lorain, Ohio, Jim loved music from an early age. He learned to play the organ and by high school was playing in churches and shopping malls.

He attended the College of Wooster on a scholarship, surviving a rare and generally lethal rhabdomyosarcoma diagnosed when he was a freshman. Not to be thrown off course, Jim arranged for his own chemotherapy during a summer session in Boston so that he could graduate on time, majoring in African Religions and Chemistry (who does that?).

Jim and Peggy met in the Heretics student group in college and married the day Jim graduated. Then off to a sheep farm in England to learn subsistence farming, before turning his sights to the helping professions.

First stop was a nurse practitioner degree and a move to the Eastern Shore of Virginia to serve the migrant farmworker population there. Jim and Peggy shepherded in changes to vastly improve the working conditions of farmworkers in the U.S.

Next was Harvard Medical School, where Jim completed his MD and his residency at Boston Children's Hospital. During that time Jim and Peggy pioneered (with a lot of help from others) having children in residency. They did alternating half-time medical residencies so they could each be home with Erin and William when the other was working. As you can imagine, this was rarely done in those days.

Then back to the Eastern Shore of Virginia where Jim served as a pediatrician for the rural community health and migrant health network. During that time, he started a rural training program for pediatric residents, and spearheaded a breastfeeding initiative on the Eastern Shore. With two young children seeking adventure, Jim bought a flat-bottom motorboat on tenuous credit and coached the soccer team having never played soccer.

When his children reached school age, Jim and Peggy moved to Charlottesville. That is when Jim started his own practice, based on his now very clear vision of what a pediatric practice should be. He did house calls on all newborns and on most sick children. He was hands on, and had only one person helping him, Pam Odom, who was the office manager and his partner in this endeavor. He answered his phone directly, night or day, weekends and holidays, much to the surprise of many of his new patients. But his patients respected his time, and they didn't call unless they really needed him. Jim got Will to every 6 a.m. hockey game and squeezed in long runs at cross country meets running to cheer at the hardest hills along the course. He was endlessly patient as a father and taught his children to be courageously themselves and to let their imagination lead.

In Charlottesville, he also saw a gap in care for those children with complex illnesses. He was equipped and trained to provide the care they needed, and he stepped into that gap. He cared for children at home on ventilators, with G-tubes, and with complex social needs. He loved that complexity, and he was committed to serving those families who were faced with nearly impossible odds. As Associate Professor of Pediatrics at UVA (now emeritus) he established a new program, "By Your Side" Pediatrics, specifically designed to care for children with medical complexity.

In November 2021 Jim was diagnosed with ALS, a 100% fatal disease which cruelly robs people of their ability to move, eat, speak, and eventually breathe. Jim and his family responded to this diagnosis with a characteristic "it's time to get turbocharged" approach to life. Jim founded the Hummingbird Fund (https://hummingbirdfundva.com/) to address gaps in research, advocacy and care for people living with ALS. It has been an extraordinary success, raising over $400,000 in just two years. Those funds have supported ramps for ALS patients, research into the causes and treatment of ALS, and advocacy for access to care and for new research dollars at the federal level.

Jim was a terrific writer. His blog, which he continued to write using Eye Gaze technology, even after he lost his ability to type and speak, included posts imbued with humor, humanity, and inspiration. You can read his writing on that blog at https://hummingbirdfundva.com/jims-blog/.

Jim was gregarious, generous, and kind. He loved unconditionally.

Jim is survived by his wife of 46 wonderful years, Peggy, his two grown children Erin and William, their spouses Hal and Monika, and Jim's grandchild Rowan James.

A memorial service will be held at St. Paul's Memorial Episcopal Church on July 21st at 2 p.m. with a reception following. The family wishes to thank all of those who helped to care for Jim during his battle with ALS, including Peter and Deon, Valeria Niehaus, the staff at the UVA ALS clinic, and Drs. Matt Elliot, Evan Heald and Leslie Blackhall, and to express gratitude to extended family, friends and St. Paul's Memorial church, who sustained us on this journey.

Contributions can be made to the Hummingbird Fund at https://hummingbirdfundva.com.