Hurricane Season 2001. Brewer Mayor Gail Kelly is on a cruise somewhere in the southern Caribbean when the ship suddenly rolls in a gigantic wave from a powerful storm some 200 miles away. The motion knocks Kelly out of bed, waking her with a start. Typical of Kelly, she laughs at the rude awakening rather than cringing in fear. Images of the Titanic? No way for the Brewer native.

Asked if she thought of her mortality at that moment, Kelly said, “Hell, no, I’ve got too much to do.”

Facing challenges head-on is part of Kelly’s makeup. Diagnosed in 1992 with multiple sclerosis, Kelly nevertheless barges ahead into 16-hour workdays with energy to spare.

She frequently volunteers her weekends for the MS Society of Maine. She is regional representative for U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe and has a five-county area to look after. For the past 11 months, she has been mayor in her home city of 9,000 people, a job she relishes.

The 49th person to be mayor since Brewer became a city, Kelly says she would do it again if selected by her fellow city councilors. She may consider a bid for the state Legislature in the future.

Refusing to buckle to a disease that sometimes makes it painful to hold a coffee cup, Kelly said she enjoys her life and calls herself “lucky, just plain lucky.”

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic disease of the central nervous system that destroys the protective myelin sheaths that cover the nerve fibers of the spinal cord and brain. The myelin becomes frayed and scarred and interferes with transmission of electrical signals from the brain to the rest of the body.

The result can be anything from a mild alteration of sensations in the limbs to complete paralysis over time. No one is certain what causes MS, and there is no cure. About 600,000 people suffer from MS nationwide, 2,200 in Maine. The number is rising, according to the MS Society of Maine. It is thought that cold climates contribute to its cause in some cases.

An illness that may rob Kelly of the ability to walk one day does little to dent her spirit. Combined with her political savvy and hard-work ethic, she has earned the respect of other city officials and her congresswoman boss.

“Gail is a one-woman dynamo,” Snowe said. “In all the years I’ve known her, it has never been in her nature to retreat from any challenge, either with constituents or in her own life – and that’s all the more true when it comes to the courage with which she has faced MS.”

Far from slowing her down, Gail’s commitment to serving the people of Maine is as vigorous as ever, Snowe said.

“I’m incredibly fortunate to have her as my regional representative. She’s touched many lives, and I know she will never stop making a difference,” Snowe said.

A woman who does not give in to vulnerability, Kelly today rarely notices – much less complains – about her MS. A “cocktail” of drugs she takes in the morning quells more disagreeable symptoms, such as a general weakness and the occasional tingling coursing through her arms and legs.

A hard diagnosis

For Kelly, 53, the hardest days came soon after her initial diagnosis.

She woke up on her 42nd birthday to find her feet were numb. They tingled as if they had been asleep and the circulation was just returning.

At first, Kelly thought the feeling was connected to surgery she once had on her back. But as the day went on, the numbness moved from her feet into her legs, which became extremely weak. Whenever she lowered her head, she felt a shocklike feeling surge up her spine. Within a couple of days, her hands were numb.

A series of tests, including four MRIs, confirmed she had MS.

“It was unbelievable,” said Kelly, describing the frustration of lying in a hospital bed for seven days with medication flowing into her arm through an IV. The powerful anti-inflammatory drug wired her nerves for action and left her weak from shaking. Her skin became “supersensitive,” she said. The lint inside a pair of flannel pants, not noticeable to most, “felt like golf balls.”

Thirteen years later, Kelly gives virtually no outside indication of MS, though it reminds her of its potency once in a while. She sees three doctors: a general practitioner, a neurologist who treats the MS and an arthritis expert.

Kelly is “a great motivator,” said Kristi Calhoun, development director for the Maine chapter of the National MS Society.

Each year Kelly heads a group of support staff for the MS bikeathon, a rigorous 150-mile trek over two days in southern Maine. She brings four or five carloads of friends from Bangor to tend to the needs of the cyclists. The job involves everything from following them in cars to coordinating snack stops and medical attention.

“We raised $325,000 this year,” Kelly said. Sixty percent of the money remains in state and 40 percent “goes to the national [organization] for research.” She has chaired the MS walkathon and serves on the organization’s board of directors.

She’s a good organizer and a real “people person,”‘ Calhoun said.

A strong city leader

Mentioning Kelly to colleagues results in smiles and a willingness to praise her.

A city leader who genuinely likes people, Kelly often mixes humor into the somewhat dry proceedings of a normal City Council meeting. She has developed a rapport with a City Council once known for its collective irascibility. Meetings that once degenerated into arguments now conclude with handshakes and friendly pats on the back.

“She kind of puts people at ease. I see a lot of light moments at the council meetings now,” said longtime City Clerk Archie Verow.

Councilor Joseph Ferris is in the middle of his first term but said he wasn’t aware, until recently, that Kelly had any health problems. “Those are non-issues in her life,” Ferris said.

Ferris said he and Kelly have not always agreed on issues, but he described the mayor as “great to work with. I think she handles disagreements professionally and we get along just fine.

“She doesn’t mince words, and she doesn’t suffer fools. She’s an impressive mayor and a real asset to the city,” Ferris said.

Kelly’s “courage is amazing,” said City Councilor Larry Doughty. “You’d never know she had any physical problems. She’s on the go 12 to 16 hours a day sometimes. It doesn’t deter her to drive from Machias to Millinocket.”

“Gail Kelly does more and accomplishes more than people with perfect health,” said City Councilor and Deputy Mayor Michael Celli. “If people with perfect health could accomplish half of what Gail Kelly accomplishes, they’d be successful.”

Kelly’s term as mayor will expire in November. She has one more year to complete her first term on the City Council. She hesitates when asked if she will run again, then says, “I probably will.” She definitely would take the mayor’s job again if asked, calling the job “an honor.”

Kelly has served during a period of remarkable economic growth in Brewer. Business development is burgeoning. Kelly can’t fully recall how many ribbon cuttings she has attended in the past 11 months. They include the grand opening last June of the Wal-Mart Supercenter, an expansion at Hannaford’s grocery business, the opening of Poppy’s, an all-natural fast-food store, the Muddy Rudder restaurant and a renovated “retro” McDonald’s, which have set the stage for prosperity and relatively stable tax rates.

Kelly realizes the significance of Brewer’s economic growth and praises Economic Development Director Drew Sachs and City Manager Steve Bost with creating a “business-friendly” environment.

Bost “is the glue that holds everything together. He’s such a capable manager and good with the staff,” Kelly said. “Now he’s a Brewer resident, which is all to the good.”

Bost sees Kelly’s selection as mayor as fortuitous timing. “Gail has had the good fortune to serve as mayor during a very positive period in Brewer’s history,” he said. “I think she has had a good relationship with the other councilors. She is not timid about speaking her mind when necessary on issues that come before the council.”

Kelly’s political savvy also has benefited the city, Bost said. “Gail has been effective at maximizing her Washington connections for the benefit of Brewer as well as our region, particularly in the area of federal grant acquisition,” he said. “Brewer has not always been aggressive in that regard, and in areas such as sewer- or storm-water separation, the city has paid a price as a result.”

Issues addressed

Other issues Kelly has presided over include:

. The Brewer Water Department Reorganization. She was among a group working to bring the water district under city control. This was accomplished amid some controversy last spring. The fallout from the act included the resignation of longtime water district superintendent Gerald Carstensen.

. Pandora’s Boxxx. The adult video store on South Main Street has secured its right to stay where it is after claiming First Amendment violations in a lawsuit the city settled in August. The settlement has not won Kelly or other city councilors any friends in the neighborhood. Some claim the city “rolled over” when threatened with possibly expensive litigation.

. Blackmer’s Box Factory. An argument that spanned three City Council meetings last spring prompted Kelly to get angry at Holden resident Bruce Blackmer, who wanted the city to pay more – much more – for easement rights over his box factory property on the Brewer shore of the Penobscot River. The city wanted the easement for its planned riverfront hiking trail and eventually took it by eminent domain.

“I wasn’t extremely happy with the way it went,” Kelly said about the Blackmer issue. “We didn’t want to take his factory. We just wanted to be able to go across the land.” The issue was not only about the hiking trail. “It was about shorefront stabilization, and the need to start that soon,” Kelly said.

Kelly has been married for 33 years to Bob Kelly, a retired telephone worker who often accompanies his wife on nighttime and out-of-town excursions that are part of her job. The couple’s grown son and daughter-in-law live in Bucksport.

At 9 a.m. on a recent sun-splashed Saturday, Kelly is warming to the task at hand.

Camera ready, she snaps pictures of about 30 proud pet owners marching their costumed dogs, cats and birds in a circle outside the Brewer auditorium. The city’s first pet parade is kicking off the second installment of Brewer Days, a rejuvenated hometown celebration that Kelly appears to thoroughly enjoy.

“Brewer Days, that’s what it’s all about,” Kelly said. “It’s really a chance for us all to get together as neighbors and connect as a community. It’s a big family reunion. That’s why I like it so much.”