Melissa Kay's West Nile Encephalitis Story

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My mom was hospitalized August 14th, 2017. She spent 3.5 weeks in the ICU and then was transferred to long-term acute care. On the second day in the hospital she lost all motor function in her limbs and went into respiratory failure and remained essentially non responsive since that day. It took doctors 2.5 weeks to diagnose her West Nile Encephalitis because the first spinal tap came back negative. She received Plasmapheresis and IVIG before the diagnosis because they were thinking it was Guillain Barré. She was trached and on a respirator and was fed through a stomach tube for feeding. She only moved her eyes and tongue. As time went on she went from dramatic rapid eye movements to still eyes. Her tongue movement was our only indicator that she might have been able to hear us. She would stick her tongue out on command and we belive this was a sign of communication. February 14, 2017 she passed away after becoming septic. We miss her every day.