"Miraculous" West Nile Survivor Talks Publicly For First Time To CBS 2 News
Story Created: Dec 25, 2006
By Art Swift
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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."
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