Ronnie was born in Atlanta, Georgia in July of 1956 to Charles and Sue Fox. 

He studied at DeKalb Community College and graduated from Mercer University in Atlanta. This allowed him to live at home and continue his job.

One academic quarter before graduating from college (March 19, 1978), he married Gwenn Reeves. They have lived in Atlanta, Georgia; Louisville, Kentucky; Brunswick, Georgia; Duluth, Georgia; San Jose, Costa Rica; Lima, Peru; Huaraz, Peru; Doraville, Georgia; Richmond, Virginia; and Cumming, Georgia.

Emily was born in 1982. Brian was born in 1984 and married Lindsey in 2008. Tiffany was born in 1987 and married Matthew Ward in 2011. They have 3 grandsons.

His home has been Hiram, Georgia, since 2022. 

Ronnie was right handed before his stroke. He is partially paralyzed on his right side, and among other impairments, he has very little dexterity in his right hand.

One of the most emotionally charged challenges was to use a wheelchair. He says, “It felt like giving up, and I don’t quit.” However, the wheelchair was actually liberating. It allows him to get from point A to point B without expending all his energy getting there.

There are several problems that conspire together to make it hard for him to speak clearly. One side of his vocal chords is completely paralyzed. Partial paralysis in his mouth, tongue, and throat still make it difficult for him to speak. Careful pronunciation of each individual syllable is slow but it makes him easier to understand. The pace is slower but the payoff is obvious.

The most urgent crisis following the stroke was his complete inability to swallow. Ronnie was on a feeding tube for about four months. Two years of intense swallowing therapy and hours of daily work finally paid off. Today, his swallow is far from normal and many foods (like popcorn) are still an adventure.

Imagine your leg is “asleep” from the knee down, but it never starts to tingle and wake up. Ronnie is quick to point out that his right leg use to be numb from the hip down and this is a vast improvement. Since he can’t quite feel his foot, using a walker requires him to leverage other skills.

One of the first symptoms of the stroke was dizziness. It has gotten better and he has learned how to minimize it for a time, but the truth is he has never gotten a full reprieve from dizziness. Rotatory nystagmus is the technical term, but it means his eyes constantly move in tiny circles. His right eye is worse, so if he winks at you he is not flirting. He jokingly says that seeing double does not really bother him much. The problem is the version of the person on the right keeps bouncing up and down.

Ronnie had an ischemic stroke. The easiest description is something, most likely a blood clot, blocked blood flow to a part of his brain. As a result, some brain cells died from the lack of oxygen. He will tell you regular people just call it brain damage. He is quick to point out the damage caused a significant loss of motor function but not a loss of cognitive function. He has been know to say, “My brain damage caused physical problems, not mental ones.”