It was a miracle

http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?display=rednews/2003/12/05/build/local/20-westnilesurvivor.inc

West Nile Survivor: Billings man, 92, beats the virus

By JOHN FITZGERALD
Of The Gazette Staff
Maynard Jones felt sick in the middle of the night on Sept. 1. When he had trouble with his coordination, his wife, Lowene, called his son who took him to Deaconess Billings Clinic.

Doctors performed CAT and MRI scans and other tests. "I don't remember much of it, because I was out of my head," Jones said.

The diagnosis: West Nile virus.

Jones stayed in the hospital until Sept. 21. He lost 15 pounds and had physical therapy to avoid paralysis. He would wake at night and find his sheets twisted into a ball as though he were swimming in his sleep.

"It's a horrible experience to go through. I was just so doggone weak and listless. I felt like I wanted to collapse," he said.

But Jones got better and after he returned to his Billings home he realized he had celebrated his 92nd birthday in the hospital.

That's right, Maynard Jones is 92 and he beat West Nile virus.

"My doctor said it was a miracle," Jones said recently, sitting in the silversmithing and jewelry-making workshop in his garage. Jones shows no signs of the virus. He displays tray after tray of his cut gems and rings and when the space heater begins to buzz, he gives it a sound whack.

Citing confidentiality, Jones' doctor would not discuss his patient's case.

Infectious disease experts at Deaconess Billings Clinic and St. Vincent Healthcare were too busy with flu cases to comment about Jones' illness. But Dr. Doug Moore, medical director of the Yellowstone City County Health Department, was impressed that Jones recovered.

"The older you are, and if you have any other risk factors, I'd say he was very fortunate," Moore said. " ... He's a tough guy."

In Yellowstone County this year, there has been at least one fatality and 35 reported cases of West Nile virus, Moore said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about 80 percent of people infected with West Nile virus will not show any symptoms, he said.

Moore said the CDC estimates that one person in 150 infected with the West Nile virus will require hospitalization. Symptoms of West Nile encephalitis or meningitis can include headache, high fever, neck stiffness, stupor, disorientation, coma, tremors, convulsions, muscle weakness and paralysis. In people over age 50, the secondary side effects such as the severe nausea that causes drastic weight loss could require hospitalization.

Add these problems to any existing physical maladies and you've got a problem.

"After I got out of the hospital, about every other day I couldn't do anything. I'd just stare off into space, but then it would clear up," Jones said. "The last three weeks or so I haven't had any spells at all. ... Sometimes it's hard to come up with names and dates, but that's getting better, too."

Jones said he's been healthy except for some 40-year-old ulcers that had to be cauterized eight years ago. He comes from hearty stock. His father homesteaded 160 acres near Molt in 1908.

Jones went to school in Molt and high school in Billings. Jones worked for Nash Finch Co. in Billings and Sweet Distribution in Butte and was Montana and Wyoming representative for Campbell's Soup Co.

"Then, after my dad passed away, the hired man on the farm took a job with Boeing and moved his family to Seattle," Jones said. "My mom asked me if I'd move my family to the farm and I did. It was at the first Sunday meal after we moved there that the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor."

Jones said the farm economy improved after the war and through buying and renting property, he was able to expand the farm-ranch operation to 1,700 acres. "That was all I could take care of," he said.

After raising three children - Everett, Dolores and Shirley - Jones and his wife, Zetta, retired in 1977. They summered in Billings and wintered in Arizona.

In April 1995, the month of their 65th anniversary, Zetta Jones died. Lowene knew both Zetta and Maynard, and three years later the two were married.

"She's been a godsend to me," Jones said. "She helps me keep myself together and do the things I've been doing."