Rare Disease Temporarily Paralyzes 8-Year-Old
GROSSE ILE (WWJ) - An eight-year-old Grosse Ile boy is re-learning to walk after he was paralyzed by a rare disease. WWJ's Sandra McNeill reports...it can start with something simple as a cold.
Yvette Johnson wasn't concerned when her 8-year-old son Landon fell ill with what seemed to be a common childhood illness -- but it was soon obvious that this was something different.
"Right after he was diagnosed with pneumonia I was rubbing his legs and he said, 'ouch, that hurts,' and when I touched the bottom of his feet it was hyper-sensitive. That was probably the start of it all, when it started affecting his spine" said Yvette Johnson.
Landon's doctor says he developed Transverse Myelitis ... a condition where the antibodies produced to fight one illness ... even the common cold, turn on the body and attack the spine. Landon was paralyzed.
"He couldn't walk, he had trouble moving his legs ... simple things like moving his toes ... he was really struggling with moving his toes," said Yvette.
In one-third of the cases, that condition is permanent, but Landon's prognosis is good. Still, it's a long recovery.
"I can't run, I can't do jumping jacks, most of all I can't even swim yet," said Landon. "Let's just say I miss my Wii, my DS, my computer and my bed."
There are several severe cases of the disease which come to the Children's Hospital each year.
