Dick Erickson

West Nile victim ‘lucky'
By Tim Velder, Northern Hills Bureau

SPEARFISH — Dick Erickson of Spearfish doesn't remember being bitten by a mosquito last August, but he is dealing with its disabling effects every day.

Erickson, a retired physicist from Ohio State University, had heard concerns about West Nile virus last summer but didn't comprehend the damage it would do to his body. "I was totally unprepared," he said from his Spearfish elderly housing apartment.

He said he was feeling tired and lost his appetite in August of last year and, for four days, he dismissed the feeling as depression. His wife had died about a year earlier, and Erickson believed that was the cause of his fatigue. His daughter had come for a visit during the Sturgis motorcycle rally, and that is when the disease took hold of his nervous system. "I started walking from the bedroom to the living room and collapsed," he said.

His daughter took him to Lookout Memorial Hospital in Spearfish. A neurologist there suspected West Nile.

An ambulance rushed Erickson to Rapid City Regional Hospital, where he remained for six weeks. "Every muscle in my body was at least partially paralyzed," he said. "I just felt totally out of everything."

His doctors recommended immediate physical therapy to keep Erickson's muscles from deteriorating. "Lying in bed just wasn't going to do it," Erickson said.

He spent the next month working three hours each day, trying to regain his strength. He was transferred to the David M. Dorsett Home in Spearfish, where he continued daily physical therapy. After more than three months in that facility, Erickson started seeing improvement.

He could move and lift his arms. His right leg started regaining its strength by January. He moved back into his apartment. He now is able to push himself around in a wheelchair, and neighbors and friends help him with his meals, mail and transportation.

Although it might be autumn before he can drive, Erickson said he feels lucky.

"I can get in and out of bed and turn in bed," he said. "I finished my tax work. Those are such gratifying things to do. I feel so extremely fortunate."

Prairie Hills Transit and the local Meals on Wheels program are key players in Erickson's daily schedule. He also credits the Black Hills area medical professionals who are helping him recover from the disease.

"(Family and friends) marvel at the excellence of care we are able to get here in western South Dakota," Erickson said. "If you have to get sick or be housebound, this is the place to do it."

An avid fly-fisherman, Erickson hopes to be walking on his own by May and casting lures into Spearfish Creek by late summer.

Erickson is urging local residents to be extremely cautious this spring and summer when mosquitoes begin to hatch.

"People should be aware of dead birds, especially in June. That is the pathway for this bloody thing," he said. "Be suspicious when one feels a little sick. It is not trivial."

He said the traditional precautions of wearing long pants, long sleeves and mosquito repellents containing deet should be standard practice.

"It should be a good year to buy stock in the deet company," he said.

Contact Tim Velder at 642-8822, ext. 17, or tim.velder@rapidcityjournal.com