Former BJ Columbus bureau chief Roger Snell is recovering from another bodyslam from his autoimmune system that “hit me so hard for the first time in 16 months” and put him in a hospital.

“This time,” Roger wrote, “it attacked temporal arteries. All kinds of drugs finally got pain relief and sleep.

“It is so disappointing to know there is no cure. But I’m sure glad that I have the doc and nurse-practitioner who rebuilt my immune system, coach me to a diet that eliminated diabetes, ulcers and more than 50 pounds. I am hoping this same strategy means I rebound more quickly from this horrible lightning strike.

“My progress has been so substantial that Linda and I resuming playing tennis for the first time in about 20 years. Now I’m back to one cane and only need it for a little added strength and balance.”

Before this latest attack, the regime took Roger from bedridden to wheelchair to walker in three weeks.

And that was after his immune system attacked his cerebellum and brain stem and stopped his breathing when he felt asleep for more than two years, putting him “on death’s doorstep,” as Roger put it.

Roger and wife Linda live in Frankfort, Kentucky where Roger is author/founder of Kentucky Proud, a Kentucky Department of Agriculture project that helps farm families reach the retail market.

They moved to Kentucky in 1998.

Their children are Rachel Snell Brown and Hannah Snell. Rachel is married to Joshua Lee Brown and their Isabel is Roger and Linda’s granddaughter.

Roger graduated from Arcanum High School in southwest Ohio and Ohio State University. He shares a Darke County birthplace with sharpshooting legend Annie Oakley.

Roger’s awards in an 18-year newspaper career include the Silver Gavel, the American Bar Association’s top national journalism award, in 1992 for his investigation of ethical abuses on the Ohio Supreme Court; and Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers Ohio Reporter of the Year in 1992 and 1993.

Roger authored a book, “Root for the Cubs,” about Charlie Root, the Chicago pitcher who gave up a home run to Babe Ruth that became lengendary as a "called shot."  Root's daughter, Della Root Arnold, calls it a myth.

After this latest bout, Roger wrote that his goal is to “make my scheduled late-August trip with the best seats ever (4 rows behind home plate) with friends from 20 years ago. I have to get my strength and balance back” to do that.