A Dixmont man has regained his freedom, thanks to the efforts of four concerned businessmen.

Bob Casey, 35, has multiple sclerosis, a disease of the central nervous system in which the insulation around nerve fibers is attacked by the body’s own immune system.

A Nashua, N.H., native, Casey has had diabetes for 21 years, but didn’t develop MS until 1987. Since then, he had been using a wheelchair for activities outside his mobile home, but a flare-up of the disease last year left him at home in the wheelchair full time.

“The attack in 1989 put me down a couple more steps into the pit,” said Casey.

MS has kept Casey, formerly a home builder, from working. His mobility is limited now to standing and pivoting. Since last year’s attack, he had left the house only for doctors’ appointments, and then with a lot of difficulty because his mobile home had only conventional steps. Casey’s wife, Doreen, and 7-year-old son had to run all of his errands for him.

But because Casey contacted Ellen Corson of the Maine Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society earlier this month, that situation changed.

Corson found volunteers to provide the supplies and labor necessary to build a wheelchair access ramp at the Casey home. Roger Priest of Exeter provided five sheets of plywood, worth about $125. Rich Dodge, manager of Wickes Lumber in Bangor, came through with framing supplies, worth about $250. Cam Tory of MCM Construction in Carmel delivered a truckload of gravel. Bill Miller of Miller Construction Group of Bangor built the ramp.

Casey organized the picking up of materials (his brother-in-law has a truck), coordinated the building efforts and purchased all the necessary nails.

“I was surprised and grateful how it came together,” said Casey. “I made one call to the Maine chapter, and they got back to me the next day with everything.”

The contributors were modest about their part in the project. Summing things up, Tory said, “We try to help out people who can’t help themselves.”

Casey was much more expansive about what the ramp meant to him.

“This has been going so great,” he said. “Now I can work in my garden, and I love to work on my car. Just getting out is the big thing. Being stuck inside, you get cabin fever after a while.”