Storyline Fall 2020

Heather Wile: Hi, James.
James Paton: We’re hiding behind a big screen from each other – this is weird!
HW: (laughs) I know. It’s not like we don’t know each other. Just in case anybody doesn’t know
me, my name is Heather Wile and I interview most of the people for the story videos that you see
throughout the year here at FAC, and so thanks for letting me interview you.
JP: Thank you. Thanks for doing it.
HW: So you and Gillian have been at FAC, back in Calgary, for about 5 years, just a little over 5 years.
JP: Yes, just over 5 years.
HW: You have definitely had some health challenges, have you not?
JP: I was fit and healthy before I came here to join the team and become pastor here … My life’s
been ruined ever since! You guys have made me sick! (laughs)
HW: (laughs) Well, you had a pacemaker put in, oh, I don’t know, 3 years ago?
JP: Yeah, 4.
HW: And then since then – 4. Then since then you’ve developed quite a tremor, and probably
people have noticed a little bit, but why don’t you tell us what happened there?
JP: Yeah, well, the pacemaker thing was exciting in its own right, but that’s long gone – my battery’s
still working, I’m good. But a few years ago I started noticing a tremor in my left hand a little bit – I
noticed it most when I got up in the morning, when I was putting the ties on the curtains and I was
shaking a little bit trying to do it, wondering, “Is this just becoming a middle-aged man" – middle-aged
men do this sort of thing. And for a long time I threw it off and paid no attention to it. But eventually
it was getting challenging – it was getting harder for me here when I was speaking in public …
Some of you would have seen me trembling a little bit. I ended up going to my family doctor, and
he thought it was being a middle-aged man, too, and gave me some pills to try and help that really
weren’t helping very much; and things just kept deteriorating month on month.
HW: It was pretty scary.
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