News Clips and Information on West Nile Virus Survivors. Videos and links to News Articles on West Nile Virus Families, West Nile Deaths, West Nile Virus Prevention and West Nile Virus Symptoms
Michael Rodriguez sat in a Fresno rehabilitation hospital four years ago struggling to make the simplest of movements. Tears filled his eyes as he focused on trying to tap his feet beside patients who had suffered strokes and injuries from car accidents.
His devastating debilitation had come from something much different – a mosquito infected with West Nile virus.
The rare virus had taken the Clovis man from a peak of health and professional success to a fight for his life in August of 2014. Rodriguez only recalls flashes of a nearly month-long hospitalization at Stanford Medical Center and Clovis Community Medical Center.
Less than 1 percent of people bitten by a mosquito carrying West Nile develop severe symptoms. Rodriguez was among them. The virus had gotten into his spine and brain, leaving him nearly paralyzed and cognitively impaired.
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“Everyone was pretty nervous,” Rodriguez said. “They were all saying goodbye.”
Rodriguez’s symptoms seemed mild at first – spots lasting a couple days that looked like a rash, and flu-like symptoms – then his body took a turn for the worst. The day after participating in a work training, Rodriguez was hospitalized after finding himself unable to go to the bathroom. It took about a week for doctors to determine he was infected with West Nile.
Rodriguez would survive, then spend more than six months doing intensive rehabilitation and physical therapy. He started in a wheelchair, then a walker, then a cane, as he regained his strength and learned to walk again.
Rodriguez eventually started trying to work out at home.
“I couldn’t do one pushup on my knees … One!” he said. “It was sooo heartbreaking for me. But every day, every day, I would try.”
Michael Rodriguez, 55, who nearly died from West Nile virus in 2014, has channeled his experience into helping others at his Fit Body Boot Camp in Fresno. A former body building competitor, he formerly worked providing technical support for surgeons.
JOHN WALKER jwalker@fresnobee.com
Darrylynn Silva recalls many of those attempts, watching her friend “just trying to lift his leg, just trying to lift a foot.”
It was especially hard for Rodriguez, a former bodybuilder, since exercise had always been incredibly important in his life.
Michael Rodriguez is seen in a body building competition in this 1996 photo.
JOHN WALKER jwalker@fresnobee.com
What happened to his mind was also heartbreaking. The West Nile caused encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain; meningitis, an inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord; and transverse myelitis, an inflammation of the spinal cord.
Rodriguez previously worked as a medical device equipment consultant, assisting surgeons in operating rooms throughout the central San Joaquin Valley. If the equipment they used during surgeries wasn’t working properly, it was his job to fix it quickly. Returning to work after recovering from his hospitalization, Rodriguez learned he wasn’t quick enough for the operating room anymore.
“That’s hard when someone says, ‘You’re not going to be able to do this anymore,’ and you spent the last 20 years doing that and trying to be the best you could at it. … I can’t even tell you what that feels like,” Rodriguez said. “And then what?”
The answer came while training a young athlete named Kennedy. Rodriguez agreed to train the girl at the urging of her mother, his friend Silva. Rodriguez was nervous at first about being a physical trainer again – what he did for some before his West Nile diagnosis – but as Kennedy excelled and grew stronger, his fears subsided.
Silva told him his workouts were similar to those at a Fit Body Boot Camp in Fresno. She encouraged him to open his own franchise. Rodriguez did this summer, one of several in the city. The 55-year-old describes his boot camp, located at Milburn and Herndon avenues in northwest Fresno, as “one-on-one fitness in a group setting.”
Michael Rodriguez, who nearly died from West Nile virus in 2014, has channeled his experience into helping others at his Fit Body Boot Camp in Fresno.
JOHN WALKER jwalker@fresnobee.com
It’s a remarkable achievement considering all he has endured physically and mentally over the past four years.
Of contracting West Nile, he said: “Looking back now, it was the worst thing that could happen in my career but now it’s one of the best things because I am truly able to help people and inspire them.”
Rodriguez said helping his clients, now more than 100 of them, become healthier “is the most rewarding thing, and I mean that so much.”
Doctors told him the only reason he survived West Nile is because he was so physically fit.
Michael Rodriguez, 55, who nearly died from West Nile virus in 2014, has channeled his experience into helping others at his Fit Body Boot Camp in Fresno.
JOHN WALKER jwalker@fresnobee.com
West Nile infected at least 26 people in the central San Joaquin Valley this year: eight in Kern County, seven in Tulare County, six in Fresno County, three in Madera County, and two in Merced County. Eight people died from the virus in California in 2018, based on data released Nov. 1. Half of the deaths were in the Sacramento area. The others were divided between Northern California and Southern California.
West Nile Virus can be deadly — but only one in five people who are infected by a mosquito bite will develop any symptoms, according to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. Here's what to look for.
The virus is picked up by mosquitoes that feed on infected birds. People cannot pass on the virus through coughing, touching or kissing.
Rodriguez also helped another West Nile survivor, Tim Thiesen. The Clovis North High School teacher and former baseball coach said Rodriguez’s positive attitude was an inspiration as he went through his own rehabilitation following his diagnosis.
One of the long-term effects for Rodriguez is post-traumatic stress disorder. Small, unexpected things can startle him: a tap on the shoulder, the sound of grinding pepper, or someone suddenly appearing around a corner.
“It’s crazy,” Rodriguez said of PTSD. “I wish I could explain it, how it makes you feel, and it’s not all the time.”
Through all of it, he’s devoted to continuing his journey to get stronger. He helps his clients do the same. Silva, also operations and nutrition manager for his boot camp, calls him a “natural-born encourager.”
“No one leaves Michael feeling down, ever,” she said. “If you see Michael, you leave feeling happy and energized and encouraged.”
Michael Rodriguez, 55, who nearly died from West Nile virus in 2014, talks about channeling his experience into helping others at his Fit Body Boot Camp in Fresno.
Michael Rodriguez, who nearly died from West Nile virus in 2014, has channeled his experience into helping others at his Fit Body Boot Camp in Fresno.JOHN WALKERJWALKER@FRESNOBEE.COM
Teenage girl in Menifee dies after four-year battle with West Nile illness
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10:00 PM PST on Wednesday, December 10, 2008
By TAMMY J. McCOY The Press-Enterprise
A 17-year-old Menifee girl stricken with West Nile Encephalitis died Wednesday, more than four years after she fell ill.
Lauren Ashley Miller contracted West Nile virus in 2004, at age 13, after mosquito bites showed up on her legs. She later developed encephalitis and her brain swelled, leaving her in a mostly vegetative state.
"She was great. Bubbly, lots of energy," recalled Pam Dennison, Lauren's elementary school teacher. "To think that she was a healthy, happy teenager and by the next weekend, she was bedridden ... It happened so quickly."
2007 / The Press-Enterprise Lauren Ashley Miller, of Menifee, shown with her mother, Bonnie Miller, contracted West Nile virus at age 13 and later developed encephalitis, which led to her death Wednesday.
Dennison noted that of the people who get West Nile, only 1 in 100 develops encephalitis.
"They fought a very valiant fight," said Betti Cadmus, spokeswoman for the Menifee Union School District.
Dennison visited Lauren and her family, and helped organize fundraisers for the family to take her to China for treatments.
The Millers took Lauren to China when she was 15 for umbilical cord blood stem-cell injections. After the treatments, Lauren's mother, Bonnie Miller, wrote that Lauren's ability to swallow had improved, allowing her to eat pureed foods, according to her online journal.
"They are people with great faith," Dennison said of Lauren's parents. "Her parents have done everything."
In 2006 and 2007, the family took Lauren to Kansas City, Mo., for hyperbaric treatments.
Dennison said she saw Lauren in the hospital the day after Thanksgiving.
"They were at the turning point then," she said.
The family learned Lauren was having problems with her kidneys and decided to bring her home, Dennison said.
"There are people who questioned if Lauren knew what was going on around her," Dennison said. "She wasn't able to respond, but there were lots of signs that she knew what was going on."
Lauren flashed a unique smile to a cute doctor in China and locked eyes with her grandfather when he sat next to her, she said.
"I think she knew."
Dennison said she talked to Bonnie Miller on Wednesday and offered to help in any way she could.
Miller didn't ask for anything, Dennison said.
"They certainly need everyone's prayers."
Reach Tammy J. McCoy at 951-375-3729 or tmccoy@PE.com
West Nile virus victim feels the bite Published: July 01, 2008 1:00 PM
“I’m your one per cent,” says a man I’ve yet to formally meet. Richard Gibson wheels his way through The Valley Echo and into the reporter’s office. He’s speaking about a recent article we’ve published on the precautions a person should take to avoid the West Nile bite.
The Saskatchewan man has a firsthand account of the severity the disease can inflict. On August 16, 2007 Gibson began to experience a barrage of sickness, which he was told was a sinus infection. Suffering chronic headaches, extreme exhaustion, eye irritation and chills, he went to a local walk-in clinic, his diagnosis was echoed Monday morning by his family doctor.
But a few days later his illness had intensified so severely that the now delirious Gibson spent 11 days in intensive care. He had been admitted to Yorkton Hospital August 22.
After extensive blood work and a spinal tap, doctors were able to diagnose him with the West Nile virus. But with no means to cure the disease, time and an abundance of antibiotics were hoped to aid Gibson.
As cases are still relativity rare in Canada, medical personnel had little assurances to offer his family. They simply didn’t know what the outcome would be. As a result of the virus Gibson had meningitis and paralysis, leaving Gibson without the use of his legs and arms. After one month in hospital he was transferred to Regina’s Wascana Rehabilitation Centre where he spent five months regaining his ability to walk and make use of his arms.
When he managed to finally get home it was December. By then Gibson had lost his job as a minister. He and his wife had to move from the church’s manse. Today Gibson is mobile with the aid of a walker. He’s regained most of his ability in his right arm; his left is still paralyzed from the elbow up. He continues to go to rehabilitation everyday.
“I’m far beyond what anyone thought possible, but I’m nowhere near where I was.” Recently Gibson and his wife Kathleen organized a forum for other West Nile survivors. At the Saskatchewan gathering the couple met many victims of the virus. All of them had endured different degrees of the illness. Some in attendance had experienced moderate mild flu-like symptoms, others represented loved ones who had died from the virus.
Gibson says he has yet to encounter any two people who have had identical symptoms. Trying to make sense of the disease, Kathleen is in the midst of writing a book on their personal ordeal. The Gibsons hope to bring to light just how detrimental West Nile can be and encouraged others to take precautionary measures against insect bites.
“Most people don’t recognize how serious it can be. Something that happened to me might happen to someone else.” While West Nile virus has yet to be detected in B.C., scientists are waiting for the first case to be found. “There is no cure, only prevention."
Victim struggles with West Nile effects Bountiful woman still battles virus' aftereffects By Heather May The Salt Lake Tribune Article Last Updated: 07/24/2008 12:37:07 AM MDT
BOUNTIFUL - As she stood outside her new home with her new husband two years ago, Melissa Dimond was bit by a mosquito. She remembers thinking, "I hope I don't get West Nile [virus]." Two weeks later came the telltale signs. She developed a rash and severe headaches. She lost some vision in her left eye.
The type 1 diabetic grew spacey, twice throwing away the device that checks her blood-sugar levels. Eventually, after a couple of emergency room visits because she couldn't keep food or water down, close one of her eyes or remember how to put contact lenses in or use her insulin pump, tests confirmed she had the virus and one of its most serious repercussions. The virus had developed into meningoencephalitis - it had inflamed her brain and the membranes of the spinal cord. Most people infected with West Nile don't develop symptoms.
Dimond and her husband, Blake, spoke to reporters Wednesday about her ordeal as a cautionary tale about the importance of protection during mosquito season. To make the point of how easy the virus is to contract, Dimond noted she knew something about the disease as an epidemiologist at the state health department. "This type of illness is really rare. That needs to stay in perspective," she said from her living room couch. But, she added, "it's really not worth the risk, even if it is small."
Common in Africa, West Asia and the Middle East, the virus spread to the United States in 1999 and to Utah in 2003. It's typically spread through mosquitos, which become infected after feeding on infected birds. Last year, the state reported 70 human cases that resulted in two deaths. So far this year, the virus has infected two people, one in Uintah County and another reported in Salt Lake County this week. Both reported fevers. The virus has also been detected in either pools, mosquitos or birds in Box Elder, Davis, Kane, Millard, Utah and Washington counties.
The state health department says the virus has surely spread throughout the state. Dimond guesses she was outside at dusk for about 20 minutes when she got bit in September 2006. She thinks she was so severely affected because her immune system was compromised by diabetes and a sinus infection she had at the time. She spent about a month in the hospital. She couldn't swallow, smile or stick out her tongue. She couldn't walk or raise her arms and she had double vision. Doctors didn't know if she suffered brain damage. "It was devastating," Blake Dimond recalled. "To see your wife without any facial expression, sick, relying on machines to feed her. . . . I just wanted to know: Is it going to be my same Melissa that I married?"
It took six months of relearning skills as basic as coughing and spitting to get to where she is today. She still tires easily and has trouble walking because the toes of her left foot curl in. But she is back to work and can take care of herself again. Her vocal range has limits, but she has rejoined her church choir. Her goal is to be able to mountain bike again. The couple are more cautious than ever about warding off mosquitos. Citronella candles are on the porch. She steers clear of most evening barbecues. "I'm really proud to have her back," Blake Dimond said. "I had no idea she could get that sick."
Teenage girl in Menifee dies after four-year battle with West Nile illness Download story podcast 10:00 PM PST on Wednesday, December 10...
Victim struggles with West Nile effects Bountiful woman still battles virus' aftereffects By Heather May The Salt Lake Tribune Article L...