Kenneth "Pete" Clay

West Nile left man down, but not out
More than 3 years after contracting virus, Clay continues to gain strength

By MARY PICKETT
Of The Gazette Staff
Life didn't turn out as Kenneth "Pete" Clay expected the past few years, but it's better than it could have been.

After contracting West Nile virus in August 2003, he nearly died.

Even after surviving the mosquito-borne illness, the former cowboy and ranch hand faced a long road.

Clay, now 73, developed the most severe form of the disease, which caused an inflammation of his brain and spinal cord and left his right leg paralyzed and his left leg severely weakened. During the 48 days that he was in St. Vincent Healthcare, he lost 30 pounds because he had difficulty eating most foods.
After Clay came home, the virus had sapped him of so much strength that he was too weak to turn over in bed. His wife, Marilyn, had to turn him over several times during the night to make certain he didn't get bed sores.

Eventually, Clay gained enough strength to start physical therapy in Billings, do regular exercises at home and get around in a wheelchair. He also regained most of the weight that he lost.

Now, he's able to walk with a full leg brace on his weaker right leg and a short brace on his left ankle.

He almost can walk with just one cane, but still needs the second one for balance.

Balance has been the hardest part of his recovery, he said.

His right leg is slowly getting stronger and has a wide range of motion.

"It's coming around," he said.

Most days, he exercises by working on a pedal exerciser and cardio glider.

Asked if he's still making progress, he said, "I believe I am."

"At my age, a lot of people are losing (physical strength)," he said. "If I'm holding my own, I'm doing well."

This summer, he pulled weeds in the large yard around his Hysham home, tended tomato and pepper plants and split kindling wood. He also helps Marilyn wash the dishes.

He has a special pedal on his automatic-drive pickup that allows him to drive short distances around town.

"I get out and do what I can do," he said.

Neighbors have been a big help by bringing heavier pieces of wood to his porch and hauling away some of his garbage.

Getting West Nile is aggravating, he said, but "your life doesn't end."

Early on, he decided to forgo dismal thoughts about his situation.

"I was lying in the hospital recovering and going over things in my mind," he said.

He could feel sorry for himself, he thought, then realized that he had to accept what had happened and go on with his life.

In addition to Marilyn, a major factor in his recovery was the help he received from physical therapist Rose Heeg.

"She's tops in my book," he said.

Attitude is 90 percent of recovery, she told him early on. A positive attitude helped Clay exceed even what Heeg had hoped for.

When Clay asked Heeg how far she had expected him to progress, she told him that they had wanted him to become strong enough to get around in a wheelchair.

"I didn't have long-term plans to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair," he said.

Contact Mary Pickett at mpickett@billingsgazette.com or 657-1262.

Editor's note: "What Ever Happened to ... ?" is a new feature updating Gazette readers on people, places or things that were in the news in recent months. If you have a topic you would like to see revisited, let us know at 657-1251 or citynews@billingsgazette.com.

Published on Thursday, December 28, 2006.
Last modified on 12/28/2006 at 12:31 am

Copyright © The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises.

David Cole - Boise Idaho Survivor

"Miraculous" West Nile Survivor Talks Publicly For First Time To CBS 2 News

Story Created: Dec 25, 2006
By Art Swift

Watch this video


David Cole is enjoying lunch with his friends at Melba High...

And this simple meal in late December is actually a big deal. You see, the 16-year-old almost didn't survive to be here for this Christmas season.

"Everyone either gets really sick and dies or barely gets sick, so," David Cole told CBS 2 News in this first interview. "It's just weird to think that I was like in the middle for some reason."

David's fight for his life began five months ago when he was struck with the West Nile Virus. He's still 25 pounds lighter now. And he doesn't remember those crucial early moments when the disease attacked his body, causing him encephalitis and meningitis.

"I don't really remember from Friday night to a week or two later," David said. "I was, like, surprised. I was like, what? Why am I here?"

Well, he is here now. He pulled through after some painful therapy and learned to walk and talk all over again. This Melba football player returned to school in late September as Homecoming Junior Prince.

"Are your feelings about school or life in general different now?" CBS 2 asked.

"I'm probably a little bit like, it's not like, as long as I thought it was," David said. "I could just do whatever whenever I wanted. School it's harder now, so It's not as fun."

"Obviously Dave has something to accomplish while he's here and I just hope he'll do it," Beth Cole said.

David's mother says she never allowed herself to think her son was going to die. But, she certainly worried throughout his recovery.

"Many people had become paralyzed from it," Beth said. "And I thought, this is a sixteen-year-old boy who is very active and loves to do those things. As a Mom I worried about how he would adjust."

"The first couple of weeks David was really struggling and I know he said he couldn't run well but we forced him to run," Cory Dickard, David's football coach, told CBS 2 News. "And he's to the point where he's beating other kids now."

Dickard tacked David's football jersey up on his hospital wall and showed him football tapes to motivate him. He's working with David in the weight room to get his strength back.

"Couldn't even bench press the dumb bells, five pound dumb bells," Dickard said. "So we had to start working with David kind of on a separate basis."

Some say it's a miracle David is here. Others believe David simply had a fighting spirit that kept him alive. Maybe it was a bit of both.

"I went to church all the time," David said. "I was kind of religious but not a ton. But after this everyone in my church prayed for me all the time and stuff. That helped a lot and made me more religious I guess."

"Do you think God was with you?" CBS 2 asked.

"Yeah, for most of it."

.westnilesurvivor.com

www.westnilesurvivor.com

Megan Most-NV

Fundraiser set for West Nile virus victim

by Susie Vasquez
November 26, 2006

No one knows what the future holds for Megan Most, the 34-year-old Douglas County woman who has developed serious complications after contracting West Nile virus in July, but her friends are there to help cover expenses with a fundraiser spaghetti feed Dec. 3.

Most's insurance from her previous employer, Carson-Tahoe Regional Medical Center, expires at the end of December. Employees at Carson-Tahoe Regional Medical Center donated their paid time off to keep her on the payroll and insured until that time, Tina Alaniz said.

"Everything is running out now and unfortunately, a lot of facilities won't take Medicaid or Medi-Cal as primary insurance," Alaniz said.

Most will have to convert to COBRA insurance at that time and friends are having the spaghetti feed to cover those premium costs, which are expected to be more than $570 per month, Alaniz said.

This single mother of three developed encephalitis, meningitis and pneumonia complications as a result of the West Nile infection and has been partially paralyzed by the ordeal.

Most is being treated at Tahoe Pacific and the fight continues, according to friend Tina Alaniz.

"She's strong and she has a lot of spirit," Alaniz said. "She has a lot of people and friends behind her and that's what keeps her going. We keep pushing her."

She is on a ventilator most of the time and is improving very slowly, but her movement is limited. She can't lift her head. She can speak when she's not on the ventilator, usually 4-6 hours a day, but she's usually exhausted at that point, Alaniz said.

"Megan wanted to come to the event and there was some hope that she could, but there is just no way. She can't sit up to get in the car," Alaniz said. "Like I told her, I don't know what the future holds, but for some reason God wanted you to get through this."

Most's three young daughters are currently living with their father, Garrick Most, in north Reno.

The owners of the Backyard Bar & Grill have donated their restaurant from 1-4 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 3, and the wide screen TV will be on so the guys don't have to miss their ball games.

The menu includes spaghetti, salad, bread, dessert for $10 per person. The food has been donated and Megan's friends will be doing the cooking, Alaniz said.

"Megan has lots of friends. We're all chipping in," she said.

In addition to the meal, those who attend will have a chance to bid during a silent auction on several prizes donated by local businesses. Among them, Wally's Hot Springs, Merry Maids, Oak Outlet, Full Circle Compost, Genoa Tree Farms and Grand Central Pizza and Pasta, Alaniz said.

"The response has been amazing," she said.

"Every little bit helps, from a dollar on up," Alaniz said. "We're going to keep going as long as we can to help her out."

Tickets can be purchased at Backroads and will be available at the door. For more information, call Alaniz at 232-1812.

Susie Vasquez can be reached at svasquez@recordcourier.com or 782-5121, ext. 211.

What: Fundraiser for Megan Most, the Douglas County resident struck by West Nile virus last summer

When: 1-4 p.m. Dec. 3

Where: Backroads Bar & Grill, 2244 Meridian Blvd., just off Airport Road in Minden

Francesca Jarvis

West Nile devastates actress
Now recovering, she seeks to start a support group



By Carla McClain ARIZONA DAILY STAR Published: 11.26.2006

You have likely seen her many times over the years, in major motion pictures and popular TV shows. She played everything from a prostitute in "The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean" to a spunky nun in the classic "Lilies of the Field," filmed here during the heyday of Tucson movie-making.
But today, the tall, charismatic actress, Francesca Jarvis, now 73, is battling the brain-affecting ravages of West Nile virus, the mosquito-borne scourge that struck her and 46 other Tucsonans in this record year of assault from the dangerous new infection.
It's been a harrowing three months since Jarvis slapped a mosquito on her arm, recoiling from the blood the bug took from her in that life-changing instant.
Within days, Jarvis was stricken by fever, paralysis in her arms, intense headaches and a stiff neck while she raved in and out of coherence — the classic symptoms of severe West Nile virus. That sent her on a miserable journey through emergency rooms, misdiagnoses and a long hospitalization.
Though she survived, the illness took a heavy toll, leaving her with memory loss, chronic weakness and fatigue, tremors, and even a struggle for words that sometimes fail her once-lively mind.
"Losing my short-term memory is the worst for me — it's awful," said Jarvis, whose memory was vital to her acting career. That career spanned nearly 40 years and included roles in movies such as "Junior Bonner," "Rage" and "White Line Fever," hit TV series such as "Gunsmoke," "Little House on the Prairie" and "Young Riders," as well as several Disney and Public Broadcasting productions.
"If I am reading a book, I have to go back and reread a lot of it when I pick it up again," Jarvis said. "I can't remember things I was told only two hours ago. And I lose words, even the simplest words, when I'm talking — it gets to be a guessing game."
And there is depression now, bouts of it that leave Jarvis wanting only seclusion, uncharacteristically shunning social activities she always enjoyed.
"All of this is so different from the way I was before. And I don't know if I will ever fully recover, but I am bound and determined to try," she said.
Facing an uncertain future in the wake of this devastating infection, Jarvis wants to connect with anyone else in Tucson or Arizona who has suffered the bad effects of West Nile, to find out how they're coping with this still-mysterious and unpredictable virus.
"Is there something people are doing to recover from this that would help us all? Are treatments for it being tested? What are the results? I think we could really help each other," she said.
Likely due to heavy monsoon rains, Pima County this year battled its worst West Nile outbreak — with 47 confirmed cases and three deaths — since the virus entered the state in 2003.
Nearly half of Arizona's total 143 victims suffered the most severe, neuroinvasive form of the disease, which damages the brain with encephalitis — inflammation of the brain — or meningitis — inflammation of the membrane around the brain.
Typically, less than 1 percent of known West Nile victims develop neuroinvasive disease. Most people suffer no symptoms at all and never know they have West Nile, while about 20 percent get the flulike form known as West Nile fever.
West Nile gave Jarvis a double-whammy on her brain, inflicting both encephalitis and meningitis, her doctors say.
"What's interesting with her is that when she left here, she was still having problems with speech, numbers and walking. But she has totally regained her ability to do math, anything with numbers," said Dr. Eskild Petersen, infectious disease specialist at University Medical Center, who was called in on Jarvis' case once West Nile was finally suspected.
"It's fascinating, because she comes from a musical family, and musical ability seems to correlate with the recovery of math abilities. But her ongoing difficulty finding words may indicate what part of the brain this virus affected. That can differ with each individual."
Scientists still don't know what percent of West Nile victims will end up with permanent disabilities. But it does appear that in severe, neuroinvasive cases, up to 40 percent recover fully after about a year, Petersen said.
"With Francesca, we still don't know. She has regained a lot already, but whether she will get back to base line, to where she was before the virus, I don't know," he said. "Her healing process is not finished."
Like so many fellow West Nile sufferers, Jarvis endured weeks of tests and treatment while doctors were fishing in the dark about what was wrong with her.
Twice she was sent home from emergency rooms, even though potentially lethal meningitis and encephalitis were worsening, forcing her to return after she vomited blood, fell several times and grew increasingly disoriented. During one of her visits, she waited six hours, virtually untended, as symptoms intensified.
After Jarvis was hospitalized, at UMC, she was pumped full of antibiotics and antivirals that had no effect on the West Nile virus. Doctors along the way had suspected migraines, stroke, spinal problems and brain inflammation from other causes, but never West Nile.
In late August, when Jarvis first became ill, the season's first West Nile case had not been reported yet in Pima County. No one knew it would hit so hard during the next two months.
"Even so, if someone has meningitis or encephalitis these days, really, West Nile should come to the front of your thinking," Petersen said.
In fact, Jarvis might never have been tested for the virus if her daughter hadn't suggested it to one of the emergency doctors.
"No one brought up West Nile, until I did — on her third trip to the emergency room," Christina Jarvis said. "There were a lot of mosquitoes around at that time, even in her house. I had been freaked out about it all summer. I just had a feeling this was West Nile."
Doctors at UMC responded to her suggestion, but it took two weeks to get the positive test results back. During that time, Jarvis remained hospitalized at UMC, then was transferred to a convalescent home before she finally was allowed to return home in late September.
Even though doctors didn't have a confirmed diagnosis of West Nile during most of Jarvis' emergency and medical treatment, it probably didn't hurt her chances of recovery. There simply is no effective treatment, much less a cure for West Nile.
"What it does (mean), to know it's West Nile, is to stop giving the patient unnecessary drugs for other types of meningitis, or for other suspected infections," Petersen said, "which is always better for the patient."
As Jarvis struggles on her own now to battle back from the ravages of this thing, she isn't alone in yearning for contact with others in the same plight. All are pioneers of West Nile, a virus still new to this country, and still baffling, even to experts.
After Maricopa County endured its hellacious West Nile epidemic of 355 cases in the summer of 2004, survivors demanded — and got — a support group organized by the county health department and Banner Health in Phoenix.
"These were people with pretty drastic effects — in wheelchairs, having a lot of trouble with balance and memory," said Caryn Staib, emergency preparedness and disaster recovery manager for Banner Health.
"There was a lot of grieving, in that you lose part of your vital, daily function. These survivors were looking for others who had the same problems, and they were so happy to find they weren't in this alone. They instantly bonded.
"It was tremendously beneficial. It helped the healing process."
As Francesca Jarvis put it, "Just to share our angst would be comforting, if nothing else."
West Nile Support Group: ● Anyone who has recovered from West Nile virus illness but continues to suffer disabling aftereffects can join the first Tucson-based West Nile support group by calling Francesca Jarvis at 624-6746.Film career of Tucson actress Francesca Jarvis:
●Jarvis broke into acting in the 1950s in New York City, performing in off-Broadway shows and summer stock in that area. After she married Clinton Jarvis, her husband of more than 50 years, the couple moved to Tucson in 1958.
During the next four decades, she built a thriving career as a character actress in many films, TV movies and series that were filmed here during that period.
Her first major full-length feature film, the classic "Lilies of the Field," was shot in Tucson's Tanque Verde area in 1962. Starring Sidney Poitier — who won the best actor Oscar for his role — the movie featured five German nuns trying to eke out a living in our harsh desert. Jarvis played one of those nuns, Sister Albertine.
Among Jarvis' most recent movies was "Skinwalkers," from the Tony Hillerman novel, filmed in Arizona for the PBS-TV "Mystery" series.
Her roles included:
1. "Skinwalkers" (2002) (TV) — Gloria
2. "My Son Is Innocent" (1996) (TV) — Mrs. Anderson
3. "Terminal" (1996) (TV) — Claire
4. "A Mother's Revenge" (1993) (TV) — Dr. Alston
5. "Living a Lie" (1991) (TV) — Miss Aimes
6. "Young Riders" (TV) — Mrs. Leeds, Helga (two episodes, 1990, 1992)
7 "Two Marriages" (1983) (TV) — ticket agent
8. "Father Murphy" (1982) (TV) — Mrs. Simmons (three episodes)
9. "High Noon, Part II: The Return of Will Kane" (1980) (TV) — Mrs. Garver
10. "To Find My Son" (1980) (TV) — Mrs. Benjamin
11. "Little House on the Prairie" (TV) — Hilda (one episode, 1979)
● Contact reporter Carla McClain at 806-7754 or at cmcclain@azstarnet.com.
All content copyright © 1999-2006 AzStarNet, Arizona Daily Star

Dr. Bill Shelton TX victim

He is being remembered as a well-known doctor and a caring man. Family and friends gathered in Lufkin to remember Dr. Bill Shelton.

Shelton died Sunday at the age of 72. He suffered from several health problems, most recently from West Nile virus.

Shelton was instrumental in creating the Arthur Temple Senior Regional Cancer Center. Back in 1994, he also started the "Totally Awesome Fishing Adventure" benefit to help cancer patients.

Chad Pyeatt, KS

Eudora teen and his family struggle with West Nile virus

Small bite, big worries

By Joel Mathis (Contact)

Monday, February 27, 2006

Eudora — After an autumn filled with headaches, nausea and mind-bending medications, 16-year-old Chad Pyeatt could be forgiven for thinking that his West Nile virus couldn’t get any worse.

But it did. A couple of weeks ago — for one night — he went blind.

“My vision started blanking out,” said Pyeatt, a junior at Eudora High School. “Little spots would disappear out of my vision. It ended up progressing — one morning I woke up and my right eye was completely blind. That night, after that morning, the other eye went completely blind.”

Pyeatt knew, from Internet research, that West Nile could cause temporary blindness lasting up to a month. His parents took him to a hospital in Olathe for observation; the next morning, though, his eyesight had returned.

Still, Pyeatt said, “it was pretty scary.”

The vast majority of people who contract the West Nile virus don’t know it — they never develop symptoms. Others get mild symptoms but recover quickly. Pyeatt is in a third category, stricken severely enough that he’s missed roughly 50 days of school since fall.

Photo by Nick Krug

Kim Ens, disease control program coordinator for the Douglas County Health Department, said such cases were uncommon. Four laboratory-confirmed cases of the virus were found in the county in 2005.

“It’s around, we know it’s around, and it can cause people to get sick,” she said. “For most healthy people, if they get West Nile it’s not going to be a serious illness or anything. There are some people who get sick from it. In rare cases they can get very sick.”

Pyeatt developed the illness in August, though his family doesn’t know how. The family has two fish ponds on its property in Eudora and lives near a creek. But mosquitoes that spread the disease could have found Pyeatt during the family’s summer float trip in central Missouri.

“He got sick just as we were starting the school year,” said Pyeatt’s father, Marty. “We took him to the doctor — he had headaches, aches and pains, flu-like symptoms, and we took him to the doctor.”

Photo by Nick Krug

It took until November, though — and a battery of tests, including a spinal tap — before blood work revealed the cause of Pyeatt’s sickness.

“He was sick that long ... I was thinking he was just having trouble at school or something. ‘Why are you staying home?’” Marty Pyeatt said. “It turned out to be West Nile. I felt bad I was upset with him.”

Chad Pyeatt said the disease had caused him to miss time at school and with friends. His A’s and B’s in classes have turned into F’s. His research tells him the symptoms could last up to a year.

“I’m pretty unlucky,” he said, “to get what I got.”

Guy Lawrence Lozowski-NV

Guy Lozowski

Services for Guy Lawrence Lozowski, 54, who passed away Jan. 9 from complications due to the West Nile virus, will be held at 10 a.m. Feb. 18 at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on Wilson Road.

He was born Oct. 22, 1951 in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was a Pahrump resident since 1997.

He served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. He later owned and operated Wild West Video. He liked working on cars and oil painting. He also loved to count cross-stitch, a hobby he shared with his wife.

His wife Gloria of Pahrump; parents Lawrence and Jacky Lozowski of Pahrump; brother Bradley Lozowski of Las Vegas; sister Susan Carter of Maui, Hawaii; and four wonderful dogs survive him. (01/09/06)

Mike Seiler, ND

· West Central Tribune ·
Retiring Kandiyohi city clerk recovers from West Nile virus
Anne Polta West Central Tribune
Published Saturday, February 04, 2006
KANDIYOHI — More than 100 friends and neighbors gathered around Mike Seiler last weekend to help him celebrate his retirement as the longtime clerk for the city of Kandiyohi.

For Seiler, it was a double milestone: Not only has he wrapped up a long tenure as one of the town’s key employees, he’s also making a recovery after being severely stricken last summer with West Nile virus.

“It’s great to be home,” he said. “You realize the goodness of people in small communities. There’s a lot of good heart in these people.”

Seiler, 65, has been a fixture in Kandiyohi, population 555, for more than three decades. As the town’s city clerk — only the second person since 1939 to hold the position — he kept the minutes at City Council meetings, wrote out all the electric bills and helped ensure the city ran smoothly.

Craig Aurand, the mayor of Kandiyohi, has known Seiler for more than 20 years.
Seiler does physical therapy at his home in Kandiyohi. (Tribune photo by Bill Zimmer)
Seiler
“Mike was exemplary. I can’t say that enough,” Aurand said. “The books were balanced to a T. He could tell you where every penny was at any given time. He took care of the city like it was his child.”

Like the city clerk before him, Seiler ran the office almost literally from his kitchen table, Aurand said. “People were very accustomed to calling him at home.”

After the death of his wife, Cheryl, in 2002, Seiler decided it was time to turn over the city clerk position to someone else. He announced his intentions to the City Council at the beginning of 2005, giving the council a year to find his replacement.

At the end of July, five months before his last day on the job, he began having severe headaches. His neck hurt. His temperature rose to 105.

He doesn’t remember the ambulance trip to Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar, nor the trip to Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, where he was to remain for the next several weeks.

“I was out of it. I was extremely, extremely sick,” he said.

At first, the doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Finally, after more than a week, they found the answer: Seiler had West Nile virus. His was the eighth case of the mosquito-borne disease to be confirmed in Minnesota last summer.

Most people recover from West Nile virus with little more than flu-like symptoms. Two percent, however, end up becoming severely ill when the virus attacks their brain and nervous system.

Seiler’s brain had swelled. His limbs were paralyzed. He was unable to swallow. He had hallucinations and unrelenting pain.

“You never would have thought that one little mosquito could take you down so far,” he said.

He thinks he survived because he was determined to live — and because he had so much support from his family, friends, neighbors and medical team.

“Thank God for family and friends,” he said. “I didn’t realize how sick I was most of the time. Several times I wasn’t supposed to make it. You need the desire to live and the people around you to encourage you.”

His daughter, Robin Winterfeldt, a registered nurse, was at his side almost every day. Sons Mark and Jay visited nearly as often.

Word about Seiler’s condition spread quickly through Kandiyohi.

His years of public service had made him well known and liked, said Sue Kidrowski, the city clerk for Pennock who stepped in to replace him.

“It was just like a parent or grandpa getting sick,” she said.

Many friends and neighbors made the 100-mile trip to see him in the hospital.

Aurand visited several times. It was clear the situation was grave, he said. “There were times when I didn’t know if I would see him again.”

It also became clear how much Seiler contributed to the operation of Kandiyohi, Aurand said.

“A lot of people know Mike and know him well but aren’t aware of what it really takes to run a small town,” he said. “There were six weeks there when I missed Mike terribly. I realized even more what it takes.”

Medically, Seiler was in uncharted territory. West Nile virus, which is native to Africa, spread to North America less than a decade ago. There’s little data on the best medical treatment for those who become seriously ill from the virus. Even less is known about how survivors fare in the long term.

As Seiler recovered, he faced a long, slow rehabilitation. The damaged nerves in his arm and legs are expected to eventually grow back, but in the meantime he’s had to learn how to walk again.

It wasn’t until January that he was finally able to go home to Kandiyohi.

“It’s great to be home,” he said. “Through it all I was determined to get better. That was key. It would have been real easy to be discouraged.”

Recovery from West Nile virus can take a year or longer. Seiler still has physical therapy two days a week to help strengthen his legs and his left arm.

He’s optimistic he’ll be well enough by summer to garden and fish. He also hopes to return to his full-time job with Swift and Company in Willmar.

“I’m a firm believer that when your number is up, it’s up,” he said. “I got a second chance. You find a way to do something you didn’t think you could do. I’m going to get better yet.”

Earl Hirschfield, CAN

January 15, 2006
West Nile virus: left helpless by bug bite
By CP

WINNIPEG -- The 50-year-old trucker was suddenly as helpless as a baby, all because of a tiny insect.

"I was like a newborn," said Earl Hirschfield, a West Nile survivor and father of five grown children. "I collapsed on the floor and couldn't get up. I couldn't move my legs."

Hundreds of family and friends held a fundraiser last night for Hirschfield to raise money to make his home wheelchair accessible.

The man who supported his family for three decades as a miner and trucker before being stricken by illness is now slowly recovering after months in hospital.

Still unable to walk, Hirschfield is lifted and moved with the help of his children and wife.

About 225 people in Canada were reported last year as contracting the mosquito-borne virus, including 58 known cases in Manitoba.

For some, contracting West Nile can mean mild flu-like symptoms and a hospital stay of a few days, but for others, like Hirschfield, it can result in serious disability or even death.

"We had no idea what it was at first ... Earl never even gets sick," said his wife Pamela.

Pamela's eyes cloud over with concern when she looks at Hirschfield's beaten frame. Her husband has withered away, she said, losing 85 pounds from his 250-pound frame since late summer, when he first got sick.

She said Hirschfield was unable to communicate for long periods of time due to feeding tubes.

"All I could do was keep talking to him, and let him know I was there and what day it was," she said.

Hirschfield, now tube-free, said he has no idea how he contracted the virus. He wants to warn others about the life-altering threat of West Nile, adding he's now a big supporter of malathion fogging.

"People don't know it can hit as hard as it did for me," he said.

With months and possibly years of physical therapy ahead, Hirschfield said he's not going to let one little bug bite bring him down.

"I guess I'm just never going to retire," he joked, smiling at the brood of children and grandchildren around him.