Fortitude in the face of West Nile Virus
Friday, August 18 2006, 12:08 AM EDT
Contributed by: Josh Grossberg
ROAD TO RECOVERY
The chances that Reyna Rodriguez would be infected with West Nile virus were as small as the mosquito that bit her on the leg last summer.
But through a combination of bad luck, genetics and other factors that doctors only barely understand, the 14-year-old Wilmington, Calif., resident became one of only 43 cases reported in Los Angeles County in 2005.
She was also one of only nine people who suffered serious neurological damage from the illness.
A year after she became ill, a hospital bed has replaced a couch in her family's small Wilmington home. It's where Reyna sleeps after having spent months in the hospital; making it up the stairs to her bedroom is out of the question. Nearby is the wheelchair she uses to get around. A kitten darts around the room, a gift her parents gave her the first time she walked without help.
The infection has taken its toll, sometimes in ways that baffle even doctors. The fingers on her left hand are gnarled so tightly they cause her constant pain. She speaks in a husky, grown-up voice that embarrasses her a little. And when her words come, they arrive in a staccato, rat-a-tat style that forces her mother to constantly remind her to slow down.
WEST NILE VIRUS
It's been overwhelming and sometimes Reyna puts her face into her hands and cries.
"I was just a typical teenager," she said.
But it's also been a time for her and her family to appreciate each other in ways they never would have thought possible.
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Reyna doesn't remember being bit. All she knows is that one day last August she was outside playing and then started feeling like she was coming down with the flu.
"I was dizzy," she said. "I couldn't go to sleep. I started getting a fever."
Her mother took her to the doctor, who gave her medicine for an ear infection and sent her home.
But she didn't get better. Her muscles started to spasm. She kicked her legs and couldn't put her arms down. Her strange symptoms baffled her family.
"I thought she was faking it," said her mother, Maria Gonzalez. "I thought she didn't want to go to school."
But Reyna had been doing fine in school. Her grades had been improving. She enjoyed karate and ballet and hanging out with her friends. As she said, a typical teenager.
But two weeks later, with Reyna suffering a 105-degree fever, her parents called 911. An ambulance arrived and she was taken to Miller Children's Hospital in Long Beach.
Within hours, she had fallen into a coma.
""The day they told me she was in a coma, they couldn't calm me down," Gonzalez said. "Why did that mosquito bite her? What did she do to deserve this?"
Doctors told the family that their daughter may never wake up.
"They were telling me she might not make it," Gonzalez said. "But I had to stay strong. I have other kids. I was mad at God, mad at everybody. Why? Why? Why? I was looking for answers, but there were no answers."
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Reyna came out of the coma five days later when she heard a recording of her young nephew singing a song.
By November, she required 24-hour care. She was fed through a tube and unable to walk or talk.
In March, she began to speak and regained some mobility. She finally left the hospital in April.
There is no cure for West Nile virus, only supportive treatment. Reyna has years of therapy ahead of her. And she may never return to the robust health she was in before the incident.
No matter how long it takes, her family will stick with her and make whatever sacrifices they have to.
"I asked God to just give me her brain and I'll do the rest," Gonzalez said. "And I did."
Reyna plans to be well enough to attend Banning High School in the fall, where she hopes to be able to fit in with the other kids.
The experience has made Reyna grow up in ways that most kids her age will never imagine. And she even managed to learn some valuable lessons along the way.
"Don't take life for granted," she said. "Love life like it's your last day. I'm ready for what comes my way. I'll try my best."
And then her cell phone rang. Reyna smiled coyly when she saw a name flash on the screen. She put the phone to her ear and whispered into it before hanging up. It was a boy calling to say hi.
"Oh, God," her mother said. "Now I have to worry about something else."
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