Jack Rainey (1) Calif. diagnosis

Inland Valley Daily Bulletin


Upland man, 45, fights West Nile
Family holds vigil, maintains hope
By L.C. GREENE
STAFF WRITER
http://www.dailybulletin.com/Stories/0,1413,203%257E21481%257E2333780,00.html#

Friday, August 13, 2004 - POMONA - Outside Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center's Intensive Care Unit on Friday, clocks ticked off the quiet and seemingly endless hours of waiting.

Where ICU vigils are normally private affairs, one Upland family asked that its story be told, as a pleading to others, and a warning about the dangers of West Nile virus.

Jack Raney's wife, three children, father, sisters and brothers took up nearly a quarter of the chairs in the moderately-sized waiting room. Some talked. Others waited in silence.

Down the stark hallway and in a closely monitored room, Jack lay unconscious, hooked to ventilators and tubes.

His diagnosis, confirmed Thursday, included West Nile-caused encephalitis and meningitis, inflammations of both the brain and the lining of the brain.

Before Jack lost consciousness, he hadn't recalled being bitten by a mosquito, his wife Cheri said.

They found dead crows in the yard of their Upland home, but the doctors said infected birds cannot spread the disease.

A week ago Wednesday, the 45-year-old masonry worker suddenly lost his energy.

"He just wanted to stay in bed," Cheri said.

On Thursday, the vomiting began and went on all day. Jack would fall trying to make it to the bathroom. And his vision seemed to be off.

"I panicked," Cheri said.

At the hospital emergency room where Cheri had taken him, a doctor diagnosed Jack's illness as no more than a bad case of flu and sent him home.

But Jack's condition worsened on Friday and his temperature shot up to 105.6 degrees.

"He couldn't walk at all," Cheri said.

She took Jack to his private physician, who decided to call paramedics.

At Pomona Valley, his condition deteriorated further. Within a short time, Jack was moved into ICU and hooked to a ventilator.

As for Jack's prognosis, the next four of five days will prove critical.

"They'll know what path he'll take," his sister Dorothy Karpinski said.

In the meantime, Jack's physician has been exploring experimental therapies at the request of the family. Jack may qualify for a medical trial being conducted at the City of Hope in Duarte.

The doctors and hospital have been caring and supportive, responding quickly the family requests, Cheri said. "He's gotten the best care."

Before Jack got sick, she only thought about West Nile virus now and then, Cheri said. "It's been on the news for months."

Like other things on the news, it seemed somewhat removed and not entirely real.

But when Jack came down sick, that changed everything.

Suddenly West Nile virus had a face.

"This is real; and it's scary," she said.

People need to take precautions, to protect their family members, to avoid mosquito bites, Karpinski said.

"This is a very serious situation. I don't think people realize that."


L.C. Greene can be reached by e-mail l_greene@dailybulletin.com or by phone at (909) 483-9337.